The UK defense secretary has publicly warned Russia that its spy ship, the Yantar, has engaged in aggressive actions near UK waters, including using lasers against surveillance aircraft, signaling a heightened state of alert and a commitment to bolstering British defense capabilities in response to growing threats.
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The UK defense secretary issued that
press conference from Downing Street. He
said that a Russian spy ship called the
Yantar was operating on the edge of UK
waters north of Scotland. And he added
that it had directed lasers at pilots of
surveillance aircraft monitoring its
activities. Let's go over to
Westminster. Our political correspondent
Ben Wright joins us live now. So Ben,
quite a a worrying uh development. not
the first time that the Yantar has been
around in UK waters, but just talk us
through what we've learned today.
>> Uh it was yes, it was a fairly stark
statement at the top of his press
conference. A press conference uh build
as being a moment to talk about how
Britain is building up its defense
industry in response to a more dangerous
world in response to threats from
Russia. And to illustrate that, there
was an update from John Healey on the
movements of this Russian spy ship, the
Yantar, which is familiar to the
Ministry of uh Defense. Uh he said
though that um what's different this
time is that this ship which is sort of
going in and out of British waters uh
just north of uh Scotland did for the
first time I think it was about two
weeks ago sort of used laser beams to
distract the British surveillance planes
maritime surveillance planes that had
been tracking this ship and that's the
first time that has happened and that is
what John Healey was calling out this
morning. Uh he said the message to
Russia is that we see you. We know what
you're doing and if the Yantar travels
south this week, we are ready. He said
now uh back in January uh the Yandar I
think was moving through or at least
skirting British waters. And at that
point uh the Ministry of Defense uh used
a a submarine that had been tracking it,
a Hunter submarine to surface just in
front of it to sort of send a a a clear
signal of deterrence to tell it to back
off. And that's what they did back at
the beginning of the year. And I, you
know, potentially that is the sort of
action that could be taken if this ship
continues to sort of pester and fringe
and enter uh British waters. But it's
part of a much bigger pattern of course
of uh Russian incursions and aggressive
action in in the last few years. Just
this year, we've seen, of course, planes
sort of skirting uh European airspace.
We've seen all sorts of cyber attacks
from Russia, all against the backdrop of
the war in Ukraine, of course. And this
is John Healey saying, "Look, we have to
be ready for further Russian action. We
have to be able uh to build up a defense
capability in the UK that can withstand it."
it."
>> So by and exactly by being ready, just
talk us through how that possibly could look.
look.
>> Well, in terms of the defense industry,
we had the big strategic defense review
earlier this year. The government for
instance has put forward a billion and a
half uh to unsort of seed the buildings
of new munitions factories which he was
talking about today and he's uh
outlining where the locations of these
new armaments factories might be. The
government's uh opening or the UK is
opening two new drone factories this
week. There is a lot going on and that's
what John Healey was saying. He was also
trying to frame this new uh defense
posture that Britain has as as an
economic opportunity too. Bringing jobs
to former industrial heartlands right
across the UK that he thinks will create
uh jobs and opportunity. But the threat
he has been quite clear is there. It is
real. Uh it is growing. Uh and Britain
needs to be prepared for it. And there
is a question mark over our preparedness
in a defense select committee report
that was published today that said
really on the home front the the UK
public governments right across whiteall
are not yet ready for what this could
mean in the coming years.
>> Ben Wright, thank you so much. Uh much
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