For two days, the Royal Navy deployed HMS Somerset and HMS Tyne to monitor the vessel “every minute through our waters,” as well as changing the rules of engagement so the warships could get closer.
Healey said Yantar had “complied with international rules of navigation,” but announced it was the second time the vessel had entered British waters, after being monitored in November.
“I authorized the Royal Navy submarine strictly as a deterrent measure to surface close to Yantar to make clear that we had been covert in monitoring its every move,” the defense secretary said.
Healey had a direct message for Russian President Vladimir Putin: “We see you. We know what you are doing, and we will not shy away from robust action to protect this country.”
The defense secretary insisted NATO allies were working together to ensure Russian ships could not operate in secrecy: “Russia remains the most pressing and immediate threat to Britain, and I want to assure the house and the British people that any threat will be met with strength and resolve.”
He said the Royal Fleet Auxiliary was safeguarding offshore infrastructure and that the Royal Air Force would provide joint surveillance aircraft to protect critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.
The protection of undersea critical infrastructure, including cables, has increased in attention since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with ships traveling to or from Russian ports suspected of severing key links — whether by accident or sabotage — particularly in the Baltic Sea.
The government is currently undertaking a strategic defense review and plans to set out a timetable to increase defense spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product in the spring.