Russian ships sailing through the English Channel pose no threat to the United Kingdom, according to Russia’s diplomatic corps.
“The Russian naval ships act under international law and strictly observe the operating laws for the passing of military ships through the English Channel; they do not pose any threat to Great Britain,” the Russian Embassy in London said in a Wednesday bulletin. “The British side is well aware of this fact.”
Russia’s newest frigate sailed through the Channel while being shadowed by a British mine-hunting ship and a military helicopter, the Royal Navy announced Tuesday. That report coincided with the implementation of U.S. sanctions on Russia stemming from the use of a chemical weapon in the attempted assassination of a former Russian military intelligence officer who spied on behalf of the United Kingdom, an incident that sparked a diplomatic crisis amid broader tensions between Russia and the West.
“They are the latest Royal Navy assets to be activated over the summer to monitor the activity of Russian surface ships sailing in or close to the UK’s sphere of interest,” the Royal Navy said.
Russia maintained that it was a melodramatic response to an uneventful passage through the Channel.
“It only remains to regret that some British media, and sometimes political figures, are striving to present such cases as ‘incidents’ that alert British ships and make them go at sea for ‘intercept,’” the embassy in London said.
That rebuke of the Royal Navy came on the same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin protested the deployment of military forces to NATO countries in eastern Europe. “We are not deploying our military contingents far away from our borders and close to NATO countries whereas NATO military infrastructure is moving closer to our borders,” Putin said. “Of course, we must be aware of what is happening there, and improve our infrastructure.”
