On June 16, the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich fired warning shots at a small private yacht that approached it in the English Channel. As a result, no one was injured. Prime Minister Keir Starmer Named The actions of the Russian sailors were “reckless”, but they indicated that the incident was unlikely to be “malicious”. At the same time, yacht owners believe that the authorities are deliberately trying to make them look guilty, so as not to aggravate already tense relations with Russia.
“Admiral Gregorovich”, no Data BBC: Sources in NATO last week ordered the guarding of Russian oil tankers.
After the ship was spotted in the English Channel, the British Royal Navy’s patrol ships HMS Mersey and HMS Tyne began following it.
On June 14, Britain seized a tanker believed to be part of the Russian Shadow Fleet for the first time since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed that he had personally issued the corresponding order. The ship’s captain was formally charged with violating the sanctions regime.
The accident occurred in international waters less than 40 kilometers from the British Isle of Wight. On board the 12-metre yacht Bright Future was an elderly couple – Jane and Alan Kelvey (aged 69 and 71). They mentioned their version in an interview “BBC” and Telegraph: The couple maintains they did nothing wrong and believe the Russian ship’s reaction was excessive.
As Jane Kelvey reported, as the yacht approached the Russian ship, it sounded five whistles – after which the pair “immediately” changed course by two degrees to let the military know they had seen the ship. Didn’t help.
We immediately changed course two degrees to the left so they would understand that we were intentionally changing direction, which meant we noticed them. About a minute later they again fired five whistles, immediately followed by four or five small-arms shots. The fire was not directed at us, and we believe that they were firing warning shots into the air.
After the footage, the pair started the engine (before that the yacht had been under sail) and rotated the yacht sharply by 90 degrees, Kelvey said. It also claims that the yacht was “certainly not on a collision course”: “In our opinion, there was no incident until the shooting commenced.” As the Kilvi brothers say, the Russian frigate did not try to contact them, even though they “were close to the radio the whole time” and would not have missed the call.
The Russian Ministry of Defense gave a different version of events. The agency insists that Admiral Grigorovich’s crew initially tried several times to communicate with the ship via an international radio channel, then fired flares and sounded audio signals.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the yacht did not react in any way – and only then, when the distance was reduced to 150 meters, a warning shot was fired. The Russian Ministry said: “The crew of the Admiral Grigorovich frigate acted in strict accordance with international shipping rules and took all necessary measures to prevent the accident.”
The British Ministry of Defense, for its part, confirmed that Admiral Grigorovich did not fire directly at the yacht. “This was an attempt to prevent a potential collision.” male Representative of the British section.
The Kelvey family accused the British Ministry of Defense of following Russian narratives. He added, “Now they are trying to hide this story by claiming that there was fog and they fired flares. This is nonsense.” male Alan Kelvey. When asked why London needed this, he replied: “The situation is provocative, isn’t it?”
The British Ministry of Defense denies these accusations. An unnamed military source I mentioned The Telegraph said that if there had been indications of dangerous or unprofessional behavior by the Russians, London would have paid “more attention” to the matter. “We never miss an opportunity to point out that the Russians are behaving badly,” he stressed, noting that the yacht’s initial two-degree turn “may not have been enough.”