The Royal Navy of Britain worked with NATO ships to escort nine Russian warships that sank in water near the United Kingdom. The move marks the title’s final maneuver for tat the countries’ military is experiencing amid tensions between Moscow and the alliance.
Offshore patrol ships HMS Mersey en HMS Mersey joined Type 23 frigate HMS Westminster and ships of the alliance to follow three Steregushchiy-class corvettes, three Ropucha-class of landing craft and the same number of missile-armed patrol boats, the Royal Navy said in a statement.
In some of the busiest sea lanes in the world, British ships worked with Portuguese frigates NRP Corte-Real, the task force’s flagship, and supporting alliance ships to escort the Russian ships sailing from the East Sea in the North Sea to their own large-scale exercises.
“While the Russian Navy worked in a safe and professional manner, HMS Westminster combined with NATO allied units across the North Sea and East Sea to guide them around, “Commander Will Paston, Commander of HMS Westminster, said in a statement.
Get your unlimited Newsweek trial>
MARCOS MORENO / Getty Images
Earlier this month, HMS Mersey en HMS Tyne tracked destroyer RFS Vice Admiral Kulakov when it went into the North Sea and through the English Channel.
While shadow missions are routine for HMS Mersey and sisterships, this was the first time in recent years that one was carried out under NATO’s operational command.
Mathieu Boulègue, a research fellow at the Russia and Eurasia program at the Chatham House think tank, said Russia was increasing its military position and footprint to what is often referred to as the “GIUK gap”. [Greenland-Iceland-UK], in a body of water that is key to safety in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Get your unlimited Newsweek trial>
“Russia demonstrates both capabilities and intent in terms of freedom of navigation and wants to prove that it can function unhindered in a potentially disputed environment,” he said. Newsweek.
Russia’s National Defense Management Center said in May that Northern Fleet troops were escorting U.S. and British ships that were in the Barents Sea. This last move was part of a Freedom of Navigation (FONOP).
“I call this the ‘FONOP cruel circle’. Boulègue said, ‘In principle, just like other aspects of relations with Russia and NATO, the actions of one party feed the insecurity of the other.
“Russia sabotages the GIUK Gap forces NATO to increase its presence through more FONOPs, which in turn justifies Russia’s position and pushes the Kremlin to push further into the North Atlantic.
“This feeds a circle of tit-for-tat, and potentially unfortunate, military behavior that needs to be addressed,” Boulègue said. Newsweek.
It comes amid heightened tensions between Moscow and the West, with the Kremlin signing a new agreement on defense cooperation by the US and Poland.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement that the US-Poland Transitional Cooperation Agreement had improved, allowing US troops access to additional Polish military facilities, “exacerbating the difficult situation at Russia’s western borders.”
