The Royal Navy has reported an increase in Russian activity around UK waters, stating it spent 21 days in July monitoring Moscow's ships. This represents a 25% increase in monitoring operations compared to the previous year, with Russian warships repeatedly navigating the Dover Strait and North Sea.
Offshore patrol vessels HMS Tyne, HMS Mersey, and HMS Severn, supported by Wildcat helicopters and Merlin submarine-hunting aircraft, were deployed to shadow Russian frigates Neustrashimy and Admiral Grigorovich. These frigates are tasked with escorting "shadow fleet" tankers.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) previously noted in its annual report that Royal Navy vessels were activated 116 times in the year to March 2026, shadowing 61 Russian warships and 28 merchant vessels. This reflected a 30% increase in Russian naval activity over the preceding two years, including operations to deter the spy ship Yantar near undersea cables off Scotland last November.
The increase in Russian naval activity follows the seizure of the tanker Smyrtos by Royal Marines in June. The MoD stated that diverting ships to escort shadow fleet vessels means Russia is "using up valuable operational capacity to constantly guard cargo."