LONDON: A British ship escorted a Russian vessel as it passed near UK territorial waters over Christmas, Britain's defence ministry said on Tuesday, adding that Russian naval activity near Britain had increased in the holiday period.
The frigate HMS St Albans departed on Dec. 23 to track the new Russian warship Admiral Gorshkov as it moved through the North Sea. The Royal Navy vessel monitored the Russian ship over Christmas and will return to dock in Portsmouth later on Tuesday.
UK defence minister Gavin Williamson said in a statement after the incident that he would "not hesitate in defending our waters or tolerate any form of aggression".
Relations between Britain and Russia are strained, and UK foreign minister Boris Johnson said there was "abundant evidence" of Moscow meddling in foreign elections during a trip to Russia last week. His counterpart Sergei Lavrov said there was no proof for Johnson's claim.
While Johnson said he wants to normalise relations with Russia, Moscow blames London for the poor state of relations between the countries.
Britain's defence ministry said another ship, HMS Tyne, was called to escort a Russian intelligence-gathering ship through the North Sea and the English Channel on Christmas Eve. A helicopter was subsequently dispatched to monitor two other Russian vessels.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The frigate HMS St Albans departed on Dec. 23 to track the new Russian warship Admiral Gorshkov as it moved through the North Sea. The Royal Navy vessel monitored the Russian ship over Christmas and will return to dock in Portsmouth later on Tuesday.
UK defence minister Gavin Williamson said in a statement after the incident that he would "not hesitate in defending our waters or tolerate any form of aggression".
While Johnson said he wants to normalise relations with Russia, Moscow blames London for the poor state of relations between the countries.
Advertisement
© Thomson Reuters 2017
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Advertisement
COMMENTS
Advertisement
Around 50 Indians Want To End Employment With Russian Armed Forces: Centre UK Airports, Trains, London Stock Exchange, NHS Impacted By Global IT Outage Air India Operates Relief Flight To Fly Passengers Stranded In Russia Bangladesh Imposes Curfew, Deploys Military As 105 Die In Protests "Jindal Group Executive Showed Porn, Groped Me On Flight": Woman To NDTV Over 300 Indian Students Return Home As 105 Bangladeshis Killed In Protests Joe Biden Is The Best Person To Take On Trump, Says His Campaign Wife Among Two Jailed For Life For Man's Murder In Gurugram: Cops 1,100 Flights Cancelled In US As Microsoft Outage Disrupts Operations Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.