Royal Navy Increases Monitoring of Russian Shadow Fleet

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom increased its monitoring of Russian vessels around United Kingdom waters by 25% in July compared to the previous year, spending 21 days shadowing Moscow's ships. These operations involved offshore patrol vessels and aircraft tracking the Russian frigates Neustrashimy and Admiral Grigorovich, which escort a shadow fleet of tankers used to evade international oil sanctions.

The Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom reported that Royal Navy vessels were activated 116 times in the year ending March 2026, marking a 30% increase in Russian naval activity over two years. This escalation follows the June seizure of the tanker Smyrtos by Royal Marines and previous sightings of the Russian spy ship Yantar near undersea cables in Scotland.

Simultaneously, the frigate HMS Somerset completed a four-month North Atlantic Treaty Organization deployment in the North Atlantic searching for submarines. Commanding officer Matt Millyard stated the deployment demonstrated the Royal Navy's purpose to protect the UK and its allies from threats to their interests.