Prime Minister Keir Starmer has condemned the firing of warning shots by a Russian warship at a British-flagged yacht near UK territorial waters, describing the incident as “reckless” and deeply alarming.
The confrontation unfolded in the English Channel on Tuesday when the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich fired warning shots after unsuccessfully attempting to establish radio contact with the civilian yacht, according to accounts from both British and Russian defence officials.
Speaking from France, where he is attending the G7 summit, Starmer said the episode should never have occurred and would have been a frightening ordeal for those on board the vessel.
“What happened in the Channel was deeply concerning. It was reckless,” he told the BBC. “The Ministry of Defence’s assessment is that the Russian vessel was drifting and that these were warning shots. That shouldn’t have happened. It is reckless, and the couple on the yacht must have been terrified.”
Moscow said the frigate’s crew identified the yacht as travelling on a course that posed a collision risk.
It said after repeated attempts to contact the vessel by radio went unanswered, the warship fired warning shots, including small-arms rounds, ahead of the yacht to force it to alter course.
According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the yacht subsequently changed direction and moved away from the frigate.
The UK Ministry of Defence characterised the episode as an isolated incident and stressed that it was unrelated to the recent interception of a suspected Russian shadow fleet vessel by British forces over the weekend.
The encounter nevertheless adds to growing tensions between Britain and Russia, raising fresh concerns over the conduct of Russian naval vessels operating close to UK waters.