The Royal Navy has released images of a Russian warship, the corvette Boikiy, which was tracked sailing near British waters as part of a task group escorting a merchant vessel returning from Syria to Russia.
The monitoring operation, which lasted three days, involved HMS Somerset, a Type 23 frigate, alongside patrol aircraft and NATO forces, highlighting rising tensions and increased vigilance amid ongoing geopolitical strains.
The operation commenced on Saturday as the Russian warship headed south through the North Sea and the English Channel to rendezvous with the merchant vessel, identified as Baltic Leader.
According to the Royal Navy, HMS Somerset employed its advanced radar system to track the movements of the task group, while a Merlin helicopter from the ship’s naval air squadron was dispatched to gather additional intelligence from above.
The Baltic Leader, owned by Russian shipping company MG-Flot LLC, has been sanctioned by the UK government for allegedly aiding Russia in its efforts to destabilise Ukraine.
The vessel was also sanctioned by the United States in 2022 due to its connections with Russian lender Promsvyazbank, one of the entities targeted by Western sanctions following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Reports from the Times indicated that the merchant ship was transporting military hardware from Russia’s naval base in Tartus, Syria. Crew members aboard the Boikiy were seen burning documents and manning machine guns, underscoring the heightened security measures taken during the operation.
BBC Verify’s analysis of satellite imagery confirmed that the Baltic Leader was docked in Tartus on 1 February, with its publicly available tracker turned off, a tactic often used to evade monitoring.
The imagery revealed several containers and other items on the dock, though the contents of the ship could not be determined. Commander Joel Roberts, the commanding officer of HMS Somerset, commended his crew’s professionalism during the operation.
“Somerset is well-versed in the escort of Russian ships, having conducted these operations on a number of occasions,” Cdr Roberts stated. “Great professionalism has been shown by the ship’s company to remain vigilant whilst operating in UK waters and integrating with our NATO allies to monitor Russian activity around Europe.”
This operation marks the second time this year that HMS Somerset has been mobilised to monitor Russian naval movements off the British coast.
Just two weeks prior, the Royal Navy had tracked five Russian ships, including three merchant vessels, as they transited from Syria to a Russian Baltic port.
Additionally, in January, Defence Secretary John Healey informed Parliament that a Russian spy ship, Yantar, had been tracked near UK waters, accused of gathering intelligence on undersea cables vital to Europe’s communications infrastructure. The Russian embassy in London dismissed these accusations as “absolutely baseless.”
Western officials have repeatedly voiced concerns over increased Russian naval activities in European waters since the onset of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.
The latest incident adds to a series of encounters that have amplified tensions between Russia and NATO member states, further underscoring the delicate security situation surrounding the UK’s maritime borders.
