The defence secretary has issued a stark warning to Vladimir Putin after a Russian spy ship operating on the edge of UK waters directed lasers at RAF pilots.
John Healey said the Yantar was operating north of Scotland and had pointed lasers at pilots of surveillance aircraft monitoring its activities in a “deeply dangerous” move.
In a defiant stand against the action, he told a Westminster press conference on Wednesday: "My message to Russia and to Putin is this: we see you. We know what you're doing. And if the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready."
The Russian embassy in the UK hit back, accusing the government of being “Russophobic” and “whipping up militaristic hysteria”.
The pilots targeted by the lasers, understood to have happened within the past two weeks, had been monitoring the ship’s activities after it breached UK waters for the second time this year.
Mr Healey said its presence was “designed to put... our undersea infrastructure and those of our allies at risk”.
He said: “It is part of a Russian fleet. It isn’t just a naval operation. It’s part of a Russian programme driven by what they call the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research, or GUGI, and this is designed to have capabilities which can undertake surveillance in peacetime and sabotage in conflict.“
That was why, he said, whenever the Yantar comes into British wider waters “we track it, we deter it and we say to Putin we are ready, and we do that alongside allies”.
He added: “It is a demonstration, if you like, of a British readiness to act, a British capability to act, because, make no mistake, we will not tolerate a threat to the British people’s essential connections under water.”
He also warned the UK "must step up" in a "new era of hard power", saying "our world is less predictable, it is more dangerous”, as he pointed to the Israel-Iran war in the Middle East and armed conflict which broke out earlier this year between India and Pakistan, as well as Chinese spies targeting MPs.
In the past year, he said, Europe's skies had been “plagued by drone disruptions”, while Russian incursions into Nato airspace had doubled, and there have been 90,000 cyber attacks on the UK defence system alone.
Hitting back at Mr Healey’s condemnation, a translated statement from the Russian embassy said the “endless accusations and suspicions of the British leadership cause only a smile”. It dismissed claims that the ship was spying and said its actions were not aimed at undermining the UK's security.
“However, London, with its Russophobic course and whipping up militaristic hysteria, contributes to the further degradation of European security, creating the prerequisites for new dangerous situations. We call on the British side to refrain from destructive steps that exacerbate the crisis on the European continent,” it added.
Mr Healey’s warning to Russia came as a damning new report by MPs warned that Britain is not ready to defend itself from a major attack.
The Commons defence committee issued a stark message about the UK’s ability to fight a war and meet its Nato obligations in the wake of Putin’s war in Ukraine, saying Britain does not currently have a plan to protect itself.
The parliamentary committee’s report warned that “the UK lacks a plan for defending the homeland and overseas territories”, as they called for the public to be given more information about the scale of the threat and the response that is required.
The committee’s chair, Labour’s Tan Dhesi, said: “Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, unrelenting disinformation campaigns, and repeated incursions into European airspace mean that we cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand.”
He added: “We have repeatedly heard concerns about the UK’s ability to defend itself from attack. Government must be willing to grasp the nettle and prioritise homeland defence and resilience.
“In achieving this, government cannot shy away from direct engagement with the public. Wars aren’t won just by generals but by the whole of the population getting behind the armed forces and playing our part.
“There needs to be a coordinated effort to communicate with the public on the level of threat we face and what to expect in the event of conflict.”
Meanwhile, a deal between the UK and the European Union on access to the bloc’s defence fund appears to be at an impasse, but Mr Healey said that the UK is “not ready to be willing at any price” to secure access.
Negotiations are underway on how much the UK should pay to participate in the EU’s new €150bn security action for Europe (Safe) rearmament fund.
Later on Wednesday, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said the UK would be "vigilant and determined" in its response to Putin's Russia.
At a press conference in Berlin with her counterpart Johann Wadephul, she said: "We see what Putin is doing and we understand and we will continue to be vigilant and determined in our response.
"Just as we have been about incursions into Nato airspace, just as we are being now in terms of identifying the Russian spy ship in UK waters and just as we have continued to be in response to sabotage threats that we have seen across many different European countries as well. It will not deter us from supporting Ukraine, quite the opposite, because we know Ukraine's security is our security."
