A retired British couple who were on a yacht which had warning shots fired near it by a Russian warship in the English Channel have told the BBC the experience was “surreal”.
Jane and Alan Kelvey were sailing 23 miles (37km) off the Isle of Wight in international waters when they came into close contact with the Russian frigate, the Admiral Grigorovich on Tuesday.
Sir Keir Starmer said firing shots into the path of a UK-registered yacht was “reckless” – an incident the Ministry of Defence has described as an isolated one.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said the yacht had been on a “dangerous approach” towards the warship but the couple said they were “not on a collision course”.
Jane Kelvey told BBC Newsnight: “[The warship] gave out five blasts on their horn, which means ‘have you seen us?’
“We immediately turned two degrees to port so they could see we had made a deliberate change of course, which meant we had seen them.
“Then a minute or so later they gave another five blasts on their horn, immediately followed by four to five small arms fire.
“That wasn’t aimed at us – it was warning fire that went up in the air, we believe.”
Russian warships regularly pass through international waters in the Channel, which are separate from UK and French territorial waters. The ships are monitored by Royal Navy vessels.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the Admiral Grigorovich’s crew had fired into the yacht’s path with rifles after making several attempts to contact the yacht over the radio and launching warning flares and the sailors had acted in “strict accordance with international shipping regulations”.
Sir Keir told the BBC on Wednesday the incident should not have happened and the couple must have felt “terrified”.
“What happened in the Channel was deeply concerning. It was reckless. The MoD have done an assessment. Their assessment is that the Russian vessel was drifting, and they were warning shots, and therefore it is important in that context,” he added.
An MoD spokesperson said: “Following attempts to contact a British vessel in the channel, the Grigorovich fired warning shots.
“These were not aimed at the vessel and were an attempt to prevent a possible collision.”
Jane Kelvey said their yacht, the Bright Future, was “definitely not on a collision course”.
“As far as we were concerned, it wasn’t an incident until the gunfire started,” she said.
She called the gunfire “completely unnecessary”, and reported the incident as a hazard to navigation “because that’s what you’re supposed to do”.
The incident happened approximately 20 nautical miles – about 23 standard miles – south of the Isle of Wight, outside of UK territorial waters.
British authorities said the yacht had reported the Russian vessel had fired warning shots from around 500 yards (457m) away – a relatively near distance by the standards of sea travel.
Ministry of DefenceBBC News understands the yacht had drifted towards the warship in foggy conditions after setting off from the UK.
British officials believe the Admiral Grigorovich was attempting to signal the frigate was drifting rather than being powered by its engines, therefore making it less manoeuvrable – possibly leading its crew to assess it was more vulnerable to a collision.
A boat from HMS Tyne, a British patrol vessel, went to check on the yacht crew’s safety.
The couple told Newsnight they were not afraid, with Jane Kelvey joking she had
crouched down, putting her canvas hood over her head while her husband steered.
The MoD said the firing of the shots was not linked to Sunday’s tanker seizure.
The Admiral Grigorovich was being shadowed by HMS Mersey, as it had been for several days after being spotted off the coast of Brest in France.
Last week, a Nato source told BBC Verify the Admiral Grigorovich had been ordered by Moscow to escort shadow fleet vessels through the Channel.
The frigate is understood to have been operating in the area for some time and had been repeatedly re-supplied by a repair vessel.
Jane and Alan KelveyIn April, the frigate was reported to have escorted six shadow fleet vessels through the waterway while being monitored by the Royal Navy.
The Royal Navy previously said the Admiral Grigorovich escorted Russian-flagged vessels heading to and from the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Baltic, including “one submarine and around six merchant and support vessels”.
Former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the incident was “a very aggressive stance to take”, given the yacht was 500 yards away and much smaller than the warship.
“They would’ve understood that that’s not going to be a collision,” he said.
Wallace noted that it came at a time of heightened tension between the UK and Russia, including the revelation that Russia was behind a string of arson attacks targeting property linked to Sir Keir.
He said he thought it was “more about Russian intimidation” and also criticised the UK’s level of defence spending, saying the fact the warship was in the Channel shows Russia is “not deterred by us”.
Additional reporting by Tabby Wilson
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