Royal Navy pledges to ‘man mark’ Vladimir Putin’s fleet as Russians begin TEN-SHIP pincer move on the English Channel

ROYAL Navy warships will "man-mark" a menacing Russia fleet that is preparing a pincer move on the English Channel, the MoD has said.

Eight Russian vessels led by a aircraft carrier are heading down the North Sea and are expected to pass through the Dover Straits tomorrow morning.

And they are expected to link up with two more ships there, meaning TEN heavily-armed Russian ships will be operating just miles from the British coast.

The Russian Northern Fleet is being stalked by two British warships, while two corvettes heading to Britain through the Bay of Biscay are being tracked by HMS Dragon.

Ministry of Defence chiefs are taking no chances and have pledged to keep the flotilla well within their sights.

A spokesman said: "When these ships are near our waters we will man-mark them every step of the way.

"We will be watching as part of our steadfast commitment to keep Britain safe."

They added: "It is pretty unambiguous that they have set a course to pass through the Dover Strait."

But former head of the Royal Navy Admiral Lord West dismissed it as "just a bit of willy waving".

The naval hero told The Sun: "It's Putin doing a bit of a willy waving in a sense, saying this is what I can do.

"He's just showing that Russia is there on the world stage."

An MoD spokesperson told the they expect the fleet to pass Dover within the next 24 hours.

They said: "They’re in the North Sea and they’re not going to turn west now – they are going to go through the Channel.

"It’s hard to say when."

Dramatic images released yesterday showed our boys monitoring Vladimir Putin's fleet off the Orkney Islands as they practised bombing sorties.

Russian media has referred to the manoeuvres as Operation Sea Fist - just a day after mocking the 'tiny' British fleet.

The giant Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier was operating its Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets near the Orkney Islands as it prepares to steam down the English Channel.

The 300 metre-long Kuznetsov billows smoke in the background as a Brit sailor observes from HMS Richmond just a few hundred metres away.

Putin's navy is understood to have carried out the drills to prepare their pilots for combat missions in Syria.

The eight hi-tech ships will sail to the war-torn nation's Mediterranean coast, with the fleet passing through the North Sea and English Channel in the coming days.

Sailors on HMS Richmond tracked the menacing Russian fleet as it carries out training drills in the North Sea yesterday

First, it is expected to stop off in the shelter of the Moray Firth to re-fuel.

Earlier today, Russian broadcasters brazenly predicted iron man Putin is ready to "seize control" of the Mediterranean Sea.

A top Moscow military expert then mocked the 'tiny' Royal Navy, which has been tasked with tracking the threat.

Britain has been without an aircraft carrier since HMS Illustrious was scrapped in 2014 but will be commissioning the £3.1bn HMS Queen Elizabeth in May 2017.

The hi-tech carrier is 280m long and weighs over 70,000 tonnes, eclipsing the 43,000 tonne Kuznetsov.

The sabre-rattling move is Putin's latest show of strength as he continues to prop up Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad against American wishes.

And insiders in Moscow's military circles say it marks a first step towards Russia asserting its dominance in the Mediterranean.

Defence expert for Russian news agency RIA, Alexander Khrolenko, said: "While the North Atlantic bloc is stalling in the sands of the Middle East, the Russian Navy seizes control over the Atlantic, not to mention the Mediterranean and Black Seas."