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The British Royal Navy has spotted two Russian warships in the English Channel, the BBC reports, in another incident that adds to maritime tensions between London and Moscow.
The British guard was activated to monitor the Russian corvette Stoikiy and the tanker Yelnya, which have been passing west through the Strait of Dover over the past two weeks.
They ensured that the Russian ships passed unescorted by dangerous activity, and the monitoring task was handed over to a NATO ally off the coast of Brittany in France. The British ship continued to observe from a distance and remained alert for any unexpected movements.
The incident comes just a week after it was reported that the Russian spy ship Yantar was spotted off the coast of Scotland, where it used lasers to distract RAF pilots tracking it.
Defence Secretary John Healey said recent Russian actions in British waters represented a clear increase in aggression, stressing that Moscow's activities "affect the whole of Europe, not just Ukraine".
Healey said last week that there had been a 30% increase in Russian ships threatening UK waters in the last two years.
He said the UK ship "continued to monitor from a distance and remained ready to respond to any unexpected activity".
It is not the first time Stoikiy has been on British soil.
In May, the Royal Navy sent two ships and 814 Naval Air Squadron, also known as the "flying tigers" to pursue the Russian warship as it sailed west through the English Channel to rendezvous with Sparta IV and General Skobelev.
The two merchant ships were returning from the Mediterranean and the group headed back to the Baltic Sea, watched by HMS Hurworth.
Healey said the increase in Russian activity in UK waters was evidence of increased "Russian aggression across the sector", which he said was affecting Europe, not just Ukraine.
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