British couple describe having warning shots fired near them by Russian warship

'It was surreal': British couple describe having warning shots fired near them by Russian warship 2 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Rachel Flynn , Paul Adams , diplomatic correspondent and Victoria Derbyshire , BBC Newsnight Watch: Couple on board yacht that drifted towards Russian warship speak to BBC Newsnight A retired British couple who were on a yacht which had warning shots fired near it by a Russian warship in the English Channel have told the BBC the experience was "surreal". Jane and Alan Kelvey were sailing 23 miles off the Isle of Wight in international waters when they came into close contact with the Russian frigate, the Admiral Grigorovich on Tuesday. Sir Keir Starmer said firing shots into the path of a UK-registered yacht was "reckless" - an incident the Ministry of Defence has described as an isolated one. Russia's Defence Ministry said the yacht had been on a "dangerous approach" towards the warship but the couple said they were "not on a collision course". Jane Kelvey told BBC Newsnight: "[The warship] gave out five blasts on their horn, which means 'have you seen us?' "We immediately turned two degrees to port so they could see we had made a deliberate change of course, which meant we had seen them. "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." Russian warships regularly pass through international waters in the Channel, which are separate from UK and French territorial waters. The ships are monitored by Royal Navy vessels. The Russian Defence Ministry said the Admiral Grigorovich's crew had fired into the yacht's path with rifles after making several attempts to contact the yacht over the radio and launching warning flares and the sailors had acted in "strict accordance with international shipping regulations". Russian warship firing warning shots was 'reckless', Starmer says Sir Keir told the BBC on Wednesday the incident should not have happened and the couple must have felt "terrified". "What happened in the Channel was deeply concerning. It was reckless. The MoD have done an assessment. Their assessment is that the Russian vessel was drifting, and they were warning shots, and therefore it is important in that context," he added. An MoD spokesperson said: "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." Jane Kelvey said their yacht, the Bright Future, was "definitely not on a collision course". "As far as we were concerned, it wasn't an incident until the gunfire started," she said. She called the gunfire "completely unnecessary", and reported the incident as a hazard to navigation "because that's what you're supposed to do". The incident happened around 20 nautical miles - around 23 standard miles - south