Russian warship 'reckless' to fire warning shots at British yacht says Starmer but insists nothing 'more sinister' at play

Want LBC stories before everyone else? Set us as your Preferred Source on Google

The 40ft yacht, Bright Future, was travelling from the south coast of England towards France when it came just 150 metres from the Russia warship - with Russia insisting the vessel had been drifting.

Speaking on Wednesday, Starmer stressed that the incident was nothing “more sinister” than a drifting vessel.

The Russian defence ministry confirmed the near-miss between the Bright Future and the Admiral Grigorovich took place between the Isle of Wight and Normandy at around 11.40am on Tuesday.

The British-flagged 40ft sailing yacht was travelling with Jane Kelvey, 68, and her husband Alan, 70, aboard when the incident took place.

“What happened in the Channel, obviously deeply concerning, and (I) obviously feel for the couple on the yacht,“ Starmer said.

Read More: Russian warning shots in the Channel should worry us, but not for the reason people think

Read More: Russian artist and Putin critic shot dead in Poland as two Belarusian nationals detained

"It looks (from) the MoD assessment as if it was a drifting warship that fired a warning shot.

“That’s the assessment; clearly that shouldn’t have happened," he added.

It comes as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the Russian vessel fired warning shots after making attempts to contact the yacht, which was about 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight, outside the UK’s territorial waters.

Speaking from the G7, he continued: “I think it’s reckless, but it does look as if the MoD assessment is it was drifting, and that’s what it is.

“Now, that doesn’t take away from the fact that clearly Russia is aggressive across Europe.

“We’re seeing the Ukraine war now in its fifth year, clear Russian aggression, and we are seeing state-backed attacks across Europe."

A statement from Putin's regime said that they discovered the Bright Future was on a dangerous course and "attempted to contact the civilian vessel on the international radio channel".

It added that after the attempts to make contact, "there was no change in the yacht's course or response to the international radio channel requests".

The Kremlin statement continued: "To attract the attention of the yacht's crew, flares were fired and sound signals were sounded. Despite these measures, the vessel continued its dangerous approach.

"After closing the distance to 150 metres, the frigate's commander decided to fire pre-emptively at the vessel's course with small arms. The British-flagged yacht then immediately changed course and continued moving away from the Russian warship.

"The crew of the frigate Admiral Grigorovich acted in strict accordance with international shipping regulations and took all necessary measures to prevent the incident."

It maintains that the frigate's crew's actions were in accordance with the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.

The incident, at around 11.40am this morning, is understood to have involved the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich in the sea between the Isle of White and Normandy.

“It seems like it was quite foggy earlier in the day and it got a bit too close to the Grigorovich,” a defence source told The Times, describing it as a “near-miss situation”.

But the Russian claims have been rubbished by the Kelveys.

Of the incident, Mrs Kelvey said: “It was a bit scary. I crouched down.

"I didn’t think our safety was in danger. But it was certainly unusual. As we sailed away, we said to each other, what the hell just happened?”

The warship had been drifting rather than being manoeuvred under power, it is understood.

Mrs Kelvey, who retired in 2023 alongside her husband, said the shots were “totally unnecessary”, adding: “We didn’t have any contact from them (Admiral Grigorovich) on our radio.”

The Kelveys insisted they were not on a collision course, and Mr Kelvey described the Russian statement as “just normal lies”.

Mrs Kelvey later told a broadcaster: “It’s just not true. They’re blaming us, and as far as we’re concerned, we were blameless.”

The 68-year-old said the Russian warship did not appear on the automatic identification system (AIS), a maritime tracking system.

“It wasn’t showing up on AIS,” she said. “Normally when you’re sailing across the Channel, if a convoy of warships goes past, you get a message on VHF (very high frequency radio) saying give a one nautical mile exclusion zone, or something like that, but there was nothing.

“They didn’t radio us, they could have seen us coming from miles off, because we were displaying our AIS. The first thing we knew was the five blasts (of a horn), we turned to port, followed by the next five blasts, and then the gunfire, and so we just turned.”

“There were none of these flares like they say in their statement,” Mr Kelvey said.

His wife added: “They didn’t send up any flares, they didn’t try to radio us, they weren’t, they didn’t look to us like they were adrift, and we were definitely not on a collision course.”

Investigations are still ongoing to establish exactly what happened.

The Grigorovich is part of Putin’s Black Sea fleet and carries heavy armaments including cruise missiles. It has been deployed near British waters for some weeks, escorting tankers linked to Russia’s so-called 'shadow fleet'.

It has been spotted escorting Russian shadow fleet tankers and has been near British waters for several weeks, including near a wind farm off the Suffolk coast.

Before the shots were fired, two Royal Navy offshore patrol vessels, HMS Mersey and HMS Tyne followed it through the Channel.

The Ministry of Defence said in a statement: “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.”

"We assess that this is an isolated incident and not linked to the UK's interception of the Smyrtos this weekend. HMS Mersey has been monitoring the Russian vessel and support has been provided to the crew of the yacht."

The warning shots are understood to have hit the water around 500 yards from the civilian craft.

The incident happened about 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight, outside UK territorial waters.

The UK flagged craft reported no damage or injuries and continued on its journey. A sea boat from HMS Tyne was dispatched to the yacht to gather details and check on those on board.

It is being dealt with as an isolated incident not linked to the UK interception of shadow fleet ship Smyrtos.

It is the latest sign of rising tensions between the UK and Vladimir Putin’s country.

In an operation on Sunday, Royal Marine commandos and officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) boarded the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet tanker Smyrtos in the channel.

Yesterday the captain of a Russian shadow fleet vessel which was intercepted by British troops was charged with contravening sanctions.

Indian national Ajay Pant, 38, was charged with directly or indirectly supplying or delivering by ship prohibited oil or oil products from Russia to a third country in June 2026, in contravention of Regulation 46Z9B of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, the NCA said on Monday.

The tanker was raided by Royal Marines during the early hours of Sunday morning, and was formally detained and sanctioned by the UK.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed that Royal Marine commandos and specially trained law enforcement officers from the National Crime Agency boarded a sanctioned oil tanker during a six-hour operation – the first UK-led operation of its kind.