LONDON. Sept 12 (Interfax) - British Royal Navy warships have shadowed Russian naval ships as the latter sailed through the English Channel and the North Sea this past week, Britain's Ministry of Defense said on the UK government website.
"Royal Navy warships have spent the past week closely shadowing the Russian Navy as four of its vessels sailed through the channel and the North Sea," the ministry said.
These measures were taken in terms of "helping to protect UK national security," it said.
In particular, during the six-day operation, the frigate HMS Iron Duke shadowed the Novorossiysk submarine and the tugboat Yevgeny Churov, which was accompanying the submarine through the Straits of Dover, from the English Channel to the Atlantic Ocean. As soon as the Russian ships passed by British waters, the frigate handed tracking over to the French Navy.
Following this, the frigate returned to the North Sea to shadow the Stoiky corvette and the Yaz tanker. The Iron Duke later transferred tracking duties to the HMS Tyne at a point off northwestern France, it said.
On Wednesday, two Eurofighter RAF Typhoon jet fighters were scrambled from the RAF Lossiemouth airbase in Scotland to intercept two Russian Tupolev Tu-142 planes flying near Britain. The Russian planes did not enter British airspace, the ministry said.