Russian warship incident in Channel deeply concerning, says Starmer

A British vessel in the distance monitors the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich in an unknown location on 4 June. Photograph: Royal Navy/MoD crown copyright/Reuters View image in fullscreen A British vessel in the distance monitors the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich in an unknown location on 4 June. Photograph: Royal Navy/MoD crown copyright/Reuters Russian warship incident in Channel deeply concerning, says Starmer PM says firing of warning shots at yacht was reckless and UK is dealing with proxy attacks from Russia ‘every day’ Warning shots fired by a Russian warship sailing across the Channel on Tuesday morning were “deeply concerning and reckless”, Keir Starmer said from the G7 summit on Wednesday as he warned that the UK was dealing with proxy attacks from Russia “every single day”. The prime minister said the Ministry of Defence had assessed that the Russian vessel was drifting and fired the shots within a few hundred metres of a British pleasure yacht. He said: “We’re living in a more volatile and dangerous world than we have at any time in our lifetimes … That is true, it’s not just an abstract description.” The incident took place at 11.40am on Tuesday more than 20 miles south of the Isle of Wight and less than 40 miles north of Normandy, France, when the yacht, identified as the private vessel Bright Future, sailed close to the Admiral Grigorovich and ignored at least one warning. British sources said initial indications were that Russian sailors fired more than one shot after the yacht had got close to the heavily armed frigate. “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,” the Ministry of Defence said. Russia’s defence ministry said later the yacht was on a “dangerous course” and that several attempts were made to contact it. Signal rockets were fired, the Russians said, but the yacht continued to within 150 metres before a warning shot was fired. Starmer told the BBC that the incident “shouldn’t have happened”, adding: “It is reckless, and the couple of the yacht must be terrified, and I think everybody will feel for them as I do.” Asked about an arson attack on his house, Starmer said he wanted to keep the two incidents separate. Two men were found guilty of conspiring to carry out arson attacks on property connected to the prime minister on Monday and appear to have operated under the instruction of an online handler with links to Russia . “In relation to the attack on our house, I’m very pleased that justice has been done, clearly, and as you would imagine it’s had an impact and affected my family,” Starmer said. He said the world, including the UK, was dealing with an “aggressive” Russia. “We’re in the fifth year of the conflict in Ukraine, we’re discussing that here at the G7 , and we know that both Russia and Iran are responsible for proxy attacks in the United Kingdom and across