Russian frigate ‘fires warning shots’ at British yacht in English channel

Latest reports say the boat was trying to avoid a collision

This afternoon, a report from Sky News' Sam Coates claimed that the Russian frigate 'Grigorovich' fired warning shots at the British boat in the English channel.

This comes after Martin Kelly, Head of Advisory at EOS Risk Group, posted on X saying that "British and French ships are mobilising in response."

He added that the "incident comes after the Royal Navy boarded Shadow Fleet tanker SMYRTOS."

This is in reference to the shadow fleet tanker which was seized last week by the Royal Navy.

Sam Coates replied to Kelly's post saying: "Some kind of maritime operation in the channel involving the Russian frigate Grigorovich, I'm told, after allegations shots fired."

MoD investigating

In the wake of the emerging reports, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have responded with a statement.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "We are investigating reports of an incident in the Channel."

Days after a Russianshadow fleet tanker seized in the Channel

This comes after the Royal Navy and Royal Marines took part in the UK's first seizure of a suspected Russian “shadow fleet” tanker in the English Channel last week.

The boat in question which was captured is known as Smyrtos, and was boarded during a joint operation involving the National Crime Agency and was suspected of transporting Russian oil in breach of sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine.

The UK government said the action was intended to disrupt Russia’s ability to generate revenue from oil exports and enforce international sanctions, while the ship’s captain was arrested and faces allegations of sanctions violations.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy later thanked the UK for carrying out the operation.