Russian submarine found prowling English Channel as Royal Navy warships launched to intercept
A RUSSIAN submarine was found prowling the English Channel as Royal Navy warships were launched to intercept, it emerged today.
The missile-carrying Krasnodar sub passed through the Dover strait, close to UK waters, on Sunday.
Built in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy in the 1980s, the vessel was intercepted by patrol ships, HMS Tyne and HMS Mersey.
It comes hours after a damning report revealed Russia had made UK top target and turned "London into Londongrad";.
The Krasnodar sub was sailing from the Eastern Mediterranean with its ocean-going tug Sergey Balk in support.
HMS Tyne, based in Portsmouth, picked up the sub at the south-western end of the English Channel after the French Navy tracked its journey through the Bay of Biscay.
NAVY STALK RUSSIAN SUB
After sailing the Channel, sister ship HMS Mersey took over duties as the headed through the Strait of Dover and into the North Sea on Monday.
Lieutenant Justin Shirtcliff, HMS Tyne’s Operations Officer, said: "Tyne responded in a coordinated effort with allies to shadow the Russian submarine and her escort while transiting the English Channel.
“This routine undertaking is an enduring task for the Royal Navy, in which Tyne and her sister ships of the Royal Navy’s Overseas Patrol Squadron play a key role."
The passing of the Krasnodar comes just two weeks after Russian warships - including the submarine-hunting destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov - were escorted through the Channel.
Analysts said Moscow had closed the "technology gap" and now had subs which were quieter and could dive deeper than before.
It is the third time this year that Royal Navy warships have had to shadow Russian vessels probing British waters, while RAF Typhoons have scrambled every other month to intercept bombers bound for UK airspace.
In March the Navy scrambled four frigates and five patrol vessels to shadow seven Russian ships which were “acting suspiciously” at the entrance to the Channel.
Earlier this month two Typhoons and Boris Johnson’s new “Brexit plane” were scrambled as part of a quick reaction force to intercept Russian Tupolev bombers off Scotland.
RAF Typhoons were also scrambled in March to intercept two Russian Tu-142 “Bear” bombers north of the Shetland Islands and they followed them as they flew south and west into airspace used by transatlantic commercial airliners.
In February HMS Sutherland, a Type 23 frigate, escorted the Admiral Kulakov destroyer and three other vessels as they sailed up the Channel into the North Sea after a secret mission in the Med.
The last time the Krasnodar was spotted in British waters was in 2017, when she passed through the English channel on her way to strike Isis targets in Syria.
The diesel-electric sub fired cruise missiles at terrorist targets in the ancient city of Palmyra in support of President Bashar Al Assad’s regime.
It comes a day after a shock report revealed Russia targeted the UK with a campaign of hacking, disinformation and political meddling.
Successive British governments “took their eye off the ball” and “badly underestimated” the threat posed by Moscow, MPs found.
London has scornfully become known as “Londongrad” because so many of President Vladimir Putin’s cronies live there.
The capital has even become a “laundromat” for dirty Russian money, the report found.
RUSSIAN RUN-INS WITH UK MILITARY
In May 2019 HMS Northumberland shadowed the on Russian Udaloy-class guided missile destroyer Severomorsk was making its way back to its home port in Russia after operations in the Mediterranean.
In November 2018 HMS St Albans, a Type 23 Frigate, shadowed the Russian Slava-class cruiser Marshall Ustinov. The Russian unit – accompanied by an auxiliary ship and tug – had recently left the Mediterranean and was tracked by allied French naval warships through the Bay of Biscay.
On August 7, 2018, Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond sailed from Dover, to monitor the Russian destroyer Severomorsk and the Marshal Ustinov as they sailed to the Mediterranean.
Most dramatically the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov passed within sight of the White Cliffs of Dover on its way to a Syrian bombing mission in October 2016. The move sparked a war of words between London and Moscow with one top Russian military chief branding the Royal Navy "tiny"
The shocking reach of the Kremlin into the UK was laid bare yesterday in the long-awaited Russia Report by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee.
The dossier states: “It is clear Russia poses a significant threat to the UK on a number of fronts — from espionage to interference in democratic processes, and to serious crime.
Last year, The Sun reported that the Royal Navy had tripled its interceptions of Russian warships in UK waters amid rising tensions with Vladimir Putin.
British ships headed out 31 times in 2018 to track Moscow’s vessels but just 11 times in 2014 to combat “bully” Putin’s “sabre-rattling”.
Following Sunday's incident, Lieutenant Commander Will Edwards-Bannon, HMS Mersey’s Commanding Officer, said: "It has been impressive to see, first-hand, the seamless coordination between allied ships and aircraft from various nations involved in this operation.
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"I am very proud of the disciplined way in which my ship’s company has responded to the challenge of maintaining our readiness for operations through the challenges of Covid-19.
"Along with the support we receive from our families, it has enabled Mersey to once again successfully play our part in protecting our nation’s interests."
