TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A Russian naval frigate carried out a live-fire artillery exercise in international waters south of Plymouth on Monday while under close surveillance by the Royal Navy, prompting concern from British officials and renewed scrutiny of Moscow's military activity near the United Kingdom (UK).
The Russian frigate Neustrashimy conducted the 30-minute gunnery exercise about 46 miles (74 kilometers) south of Plymouth after notifying the Royal Navy of its intentions. The vessel was shadowed throughout the operation by the Royal Navy offshore patrol vessel HMS Tyne, which repositioned after receiving a safety warning from the Russian crew before the firing began.
The BBC reported that the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the Royal Navy monitored the exercise throughout and continues to track the Russian warship's movements.
"The Royal Navy monitored that exercise throughout, continues to track the vessel's activity closely and stands ready to protect UK national security," an MoD spokesperson said.
The exercise came on the first full day of Prime Minister Andy Burnham's administration and marked one of the closest known Russian live-fire drills to Britain's southern coastline in recent years.
New Defence Secretary Wes Streeting described the Russian action as "performative and irresponsible," while declining to speculate publicly on whether the timing was intended as a message to the new government.
The Kremlin denied the exercise was linked to the political transition in Britain.
"All military exercises and all actions undertaken by our warships are carried out in strict compliance with international and maritime law," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the BBC. "Therefore, there is no need to see any signals in this."
However, Peskov criticized Burnham's support for Ukraine, saying one of the new prime minister's first actions had been to reaffirm Britain's commitment to assisting Kyiv.
The live-fire drill took place entirely in international waters, where foreign military vessels are legally permitted to operate.
According to British defence officials, HMS Tyne had already been shadowing Neustrashimy for several days after the Russian frigate was previously tracked in the North Sea near the port of Felixstowe.
Before opening fire, the Russian crew informed HMS Tyne that gunnery exercises were about to begin and requested the British patrol ship move to a safer distance, which it did.
French military assets also monitored the operation. Defence sources told the BBC that a French military aircraft contacted the Russian vessel over radio to clarify its intentions before the exercise commenced.
BBC Verify analyzed publicly available flight and ship-tracking data showing multiple British military aircraft operating over southern England and the English Channel during the incident, including two Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons, a Voyager aerial refueling tanker, a Royal Navy Super Lynx helicopter and a French military helicopter.
Ship-tracking data also showed HMS Tyne remaining off Plymouth for approximately two hours before returning to port.
Later reporting by The Telegraph added that the Russian frigate was operating roughly two nautical miles from HMS Tyne when commanders requested the British vessel increase its distance before the live-fire exercise. The patrol ship reportedly withdrew to around five nautical miles while continuing to observe the drill.
The newspaper cited defence sources describing the exercise as "highly unusual," particularly because of its proximity to one of the world's busiest commercial shipping lanes.
"It was quite unusual for the Russian ship to conduct such an exercise like this in the Channel," one defence source told the publication. "Although it is international waters, the Channel is a busy shipping lane. Drills like this would normally take place in more open waters."
Retired Royal Navy commander Tom Sharpe echoed that assessment, saying live-fire exercises of this nature so close to Britain's south coast are rare despite being legally permissible.
Sharpe noted that firing a naval gun of that caliber in such a heavily trafficked maritime corridor raised safety concerns, particularly because projectiles could potentially ricochet well beyond their intended impact area.
He also suggested the incident reflected growing strategic competition between Britain and Russia in the English Channel.
"We are in this tit-for-tat, which is kind of Cold War normality," Sharpe said. "We've just forgotten that this sort of stuff used to happen all the time."
Former Chief of the General Staff Lord Dannatt likewise interpreted the exercise as a demonstration of Russian military power.
"I think it's another illustration of the aggressive instinct shown by Vladimir Putin," Dannatt told Times Radio, adding that Moscow appeared intent on reminding Britain of Russia's military capabilities.
While British officials stopped short of officially linking the drill to recent tensions, the exercise comes amid increasing confrontations between Britain and Russia in waters surrounding the UK.
In March, the previous British government authorized military action against vessels linked to Russia's sanctioned "shadow fleet," used to transport oil despite international restrictions.
Last month, Royal Marines boarded a Russian-linked oil tanker during a six-hour operation in the English Channel, marking Britain's first such seizure involving the shadow fleet.
Separately in June, another Russian frigate, Admiral Grigorovich, fired warning shots while a British couple sailed their yacht in international waters off the Isle of Wight. Although no one was injured, the incident further heightened concerns over Russia's increasingly assertive naval posture near Britain.
Russian naval vessels regularly transit the English Channel through international waters, which remain open to military navigation under international maritime law. However, defence analysts say live-fire exercises so close to the British coastline remain uncommon and underscore the increasingly tense relationship between Moscow and Western governments following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Ministry of Defence said the Royal Navy will continue monitoring Neustrashimy as long as it remains near UK waters.
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