0:02 The UK defense secretary issued that
0:04 press conference from Downing Street. He
0:06 said that a Russian spy ship called the
0:09 Yantar was operating on the edge of UK
0:11 waters north of Scotland. And he added
0:14 that it had directed lasers at pilots of
0:16 surveillance aircraft monitoring its
0:17 activities. Let's go over to
0:18 Westminster. Our political correspondent
0:22 Ben Wright joins us live now. So Ben,
0:25 quite a a worrying uh development. not
0:26 the first time that the Yantar has been
0:28 around in UK waters, but just talk us
0:31 through what we've learned today.
0:33 >> Uh it was yes, it was a fairly stark
0:34 statement at the top of his press
0:36 conference. A press conference uh build
0:39 as being a moment to talk about how
0:41 Britain is building up its defense
0:43 industry in response to a more dangerous
0:44 world in response to threats from
0:47 Russia. And to illustrate that, there
0:49 was an update from John Healey on the
0:51 movements of this Russian spy ship, the
0:53 Yantar, which is familiar to the
0:56 Ministry of uh Defense. Uh he said
0:58 though that um what's different this
1:00 time is that this ship which is sort of
1:03 going in and out of British waters uh
1:05 just north of uh Scotland did for the
1:07 first time I think it was about two
1:10 weeks ago sort of used laser beams to
1:12 distract the British surveillance planes
1:15 maritime surveillance planes that had
1:17 been tracking this ship and that's the
1:19 first time that has happened and that is
1:22 what John Healey was calling out this
1:24 morning. Uh he said the message to
1:26 Russia is that we see you. We know what
1:29 you're doing and if the Yantar travels
1:32 south this week, we are ready. He said
1:36 now uh back in January uh the Yandar I
1:38 think was moving through or at least
1:40 skirting British waters. And at that
1:43 point uh the Ministry of Defense uh used
1:45 a a submarine that had been tracking it,
1:47 a Hunter submarine to surface just in
1:49 front of it to sort of send a a a clear
1:52 signal of deterrence to tell it to back
1:53 off. And that's what they did back at
1:55 the beginning of the year. And I, you
1:57 know, potentially that is the sort of
1:59 action that could be taken if this ship
2:02 continues to sort of pester and fringe
2:04 and enter uh British waters. But it's
2:06 part of a much bigger pattern of course
2:09 of uh Russian incursions and aggressive
2:12 action in in the last few years. Just
2:14 this year, we've seen, of course, planes
2:17 sort of skirting uh European airspace.
2:19 We've seen all sorts of cyber attacks
2:21 from Russia, all against the backdrop of
2:23 the war in Ukraine, of course. And this
2:25 is John Healey saying, "Look, we have to
2:27 be ready for further Russian action. We
2:29 have to be able uh to build up a defense
2:32 capability in the UK that can withstand it."
2:32 it."
2:35 >> So by and exactly by being ready, just
2:38 talk us through how that possibly could look.
2:39 look.
2:41 >> Well, in terms of the defense industry,
2:43 we had the big strategic defense review
2:44 earlier this year. The government for
2:46 instance has put forward a billion and a
2:50 half uh to unsort of seed the buildings
2:52 of new munitions factories which he was
2:54 talking about today and he's uh
2:56 outlining where the locations of these
2:58 new armaments factories might be. The
3:00 government's uh opening or the UK is
3:02 opening two new drone factories this
3:04 week. There is a lot going on and that's
3:06 what John Healey was saying. He was also
3:09 trying to frame this new uh defense
3:10 posture that Britain has as as an
3:13 economic opportunity too. Bringing jobs
3:15 to former industrial heartlands right
3:18 across the UK that he thinks will create
3:20 uh jobs and opportunity. But the threat
3:22 he has been quite clear is there. It is
3:25 real. Uh it is growing. Uh and Britain
3:26 needs to be prepared for it. And there
3:29 is a question mark over our preparedness
3:30 in a defense select committee report
3:31 that was published today that said
3:34 really on the home front the the UK
3:37 public governments right across whiteall
3:39 are not yet ready for what this could
3:40 mean in the coming years.
3:42 >> Ben Wright, thank you so much. Uh much
