The owners of a yacht that faced warning shots from a Russian warship in the English Channel have accused the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of “trying to shut the story down”.
Jane Kelvey, 68, and her husband Alan, 70, were stunned when a Russian frigate, the Admiral Grigorovich, fired towards their yacht Bright Future, around 23 miles off the coast of the Isle of Wight on Tuesday morning.
The Russian ministry of defence said the yacht had been on a “dangerous approach” towards the Admiral Grigorovich as a result of adverse weather conditions, firing the shots in an attempt to draw the attention of the yacht’s crew.
But the couple, frustrated by the implication they had something wrong, has strongly denied they were on a “dangerous course” and said no flares nor radio signals were released before the gunfire.
The MoD also called the incident “nautical,” avoiding language which would describe the situation as escalatory or aggressive by Russia.
Speaking about the MoD, Mr Kelvey told The Telegraph: “They’re trying to close the story down now, saying that it was foggy and they were shooting flares up. It’s rubbish.
“It wasn’t a problem of fog. [We could] see him clearly. He could see us clearly. We didn’t see any flares at all. They normally go bang and you see them.”
Ms Kelvey told BBC Newsnight that the warship “gave out five blasts on their horn, which means ‘have you seen us?’”
She said they “immediately” turned two degrees to port so they could see they had made a “deliberate change of course”.
She added: “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.”
The MoD described the shots as an “isolated incident”, but the couple said they believe the ministry was trying to downplay what happened for fear it was “inflammatory”.
Mr Kelvey was asked by The Telegraph if there was any risk of collision with the warship, to which he replied, “Absolutely not” as he saw the frigate “for miles”.
Authorities had been alerted when the warship fired warning shots nearby at a distance of approximately 500 yards (457 metres). As Russian warships are routinely shadowed by the Royal Navy when they pass through the English Channel, the offshore patrol vessel HMS Mersey was monitoring the frigate.
A seaboat from HMS Tyne, another patrol vessel, was sent to the yacht to gather information and check on the safety of the crew.
The incident came only two days after officers from the Royal Marines and the National Crime Agency boarded the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet tanker Smyrtos in the Channel.
Sir Keir Starmer said it was “reckless” for a Russian warship to fire warning shots near a yacht in the English Channel, but stressed that there was no sign it was anything “more sinister” than a drifting vessel.
But he added it “doesn’t take away from the fact that clearly Russia is aggressive across Europe”, as he vowed to step up support for Ukraine.
The Conservatives said the incident was “hugely concerning” and showed “yet again, that Russia poses a direct threat to our nation”.
