A Russian warship has been monitored continuously for an entire month by the Royal Navy.
The frigate Admiral Grigorovich has been sailing through UK waters, with patrol ships HMS Tyne, Mersey and Severn all watching it closely.
It sailed for the whole of April to the west of the UK and in the North Sea, getting uncomfortably close to the Galloper wind farm just off the Suffolk coast.
A Royal Navy spokesman said: “Patrol ships HMS Tyne, HMS Mersey and HMS Severn, tanker RFA Tideforce and Wildcat helicopters from 815 Naval Air Squadron tracked the Russian Navy’s Admiral Grigorovich throughout April.
“There was not one day last month when the Russian warship, her supporting vessels or the ships she was tasked with escorting was not closely watched by Royal Navy air or sea power.”
They explained the warship spent the month providing an escort to Russian-flagged vessels travelling to and from the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Baltic seas.
During that time, the frigate accompanied one submarine and around six merchant and support vessels, the spokesman said.
It comes as Labour is facing increasing pressure from allies to support operations in eastern Europe, the Arctic and the Middle East, despite the British navy being the smallest it has been since the 17th century.
Undated handout photo issued by the Ministry of Defence of RFN Admiral Grigorovich (foreground) monitored by RFA Tideforce
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PA
Back in April, defence minister Luke Pollard said Russian warships escorting their shadow fleet vessels “shows how vulnerable they now are” after the UK authorised the Royal Navy to board and interdict sanctioned ships if they enter British waters.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Pollard said: “Having to have a Russian frigate escort one of their vessels shows how vulnerable they now are. The UK has continued to support our allies in interdicting those Russian shadow fleets.
“We now know they’re taking the long way round the United Kingdom because of the actions that we are taking and, thanks to the new powers that the UK armed forces have, we reserve the right, at a time of our choosing, to interdict a Russian vessel ourselves.
“And that is the aggregate, the pressure that we’re putting on Putin and the Russian regime, because we want to slow and choke off the flow of money going into Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine.”
Defence Minister Luke Pollard said 500 armed forces personnel had been deployed
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PAHe added that 500 armed forces personnel have been deployed to monitor covert Russian submarines in “the past month or so” and that their work delays and disrupts Moscow’s activity.