UK's Royal Navy tracks Russian vessels sailing through English Channel

London: ​Britain's Royal Navy shadowed Russian vessels sailing through the English Channel in ​a two-day operation coordinated with NATO ‌allies, the navy ⁠said on ‌Friday, as the military alliance steps up monitoring of Russian shipping.

The navy said two patrol ships, supported ​by a Wildcat helicopter, were dispatched to intercept the Russian warship Boikiy and accompanying oil ‌tanker ‌MT General Skobelev as they headed north, before handing ⁠the monitoring over to a NATO ally.

The operation comes a day after ⁠Britain said it provided support ⁠to a French operation ‌to board a ‌sanctioned Russian oil tanker as it passed through the Straits of Gibraltar, ‍in a bid to choke off the funds that fuel Russian's invasion of Ukraine.

Britain's navy routinely conducts shadowing missions to monitor any potential threats to national security, including to critical ​infrastructure such ‌as undersea cables or pipelines.