Overview
- The Royal Navy has maintained an unbroken surveillance operation on Russian warships and support vessels for nearly three months, working with NATO partners and the Irish Defence Forces to shadow movements in UK and Irish exclusive economic zones.
- UK forces seized the shadow-fleet tanker MV Smyrtos in a law-enforcement boarding on 14 June, carried out by 42 Commando and the National Crime Agency with support from Royal Navy ships and military aircraft.
- Two days later the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich fired warning shots at the British yacht Bright Future, an incident that prompted an immediate RN response including HMS Tyne checking on the civilians aboard.
- Royal Navy ships observed the Grigorovich conducting a risky 'raft-up' fuel and stores transfer with the Amur-class supply ship PM-82 near the Galloper wind farm, a close-quarters technique that raises collision and environmental dangers in busy sea lanes.
- The sustained mission has required repeated deployment of patrol ships and frigates such as HMS Tyne, Ledbury, Severn, Mersey, Sutherland and Somerset to intercept and shadow vessels including the intelligence ship Yury Ivanov and landing ship Aleksander Shabalin, which has placed steady operational strain on UK patrol forces and increased the need to protect coastal infrastructure and civilian mariners.