AFP, LONDON
Russia said one of its warships on Tuesday fired warning shots near a yacht making a “dangerous approach” in the English Channel, although Britain evaluated that the shots were “not aimed at the vessel.” The incident involved the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich and a UK-registered yacht about 20 nautical miles (37km) south of the Isle of Wight, just outside British waters, a British Ministry of Defence source said. The latest at-sea tension between London and Moscow came after UK commandos on Sunday intercepted and boarded a suspected Russian shadow fleet vessel in the same part of the Channel.
The British Royal Navy’s HMS Mersey, front, tracks the Russian Navy’s Admiral Grigorovich frigate, left, and Krasnodar submarine at an unknown location in an undated photograph.
The shooting incident coincided with G7 leaders gathering in eastern France and agreeing on Tuesday to intensify pressure on Russia to end more than four years of war against Ukraine. “Following attempts to contact a British vessel in the channel, the Admiral Grigorovich fired warning shots. These were not aimed at the vessel and were an attempt to prevent a possible collision,” the British ministry said in an update on the incident.
