Britain's Royal Navy has cautioned that Russian maritime movements near UK territory are intensifying, after dedicating 21 days in July to shadowing Moscow's vessels.
Surveillance operations rose 25 percent last month compared with July 2025. Patrol ships HMS Tyne, HMS Mersey, and HMS Severn tracked the Russian frigates Neustrashimy and Admiral Grigorovich, which were escorting tankers linked to a so-called shadow fleet. HMS Tyne additionally observed the Neustrashimy conducting a live-fire drill beyond British and French waters on July 20, while frigate HMS Somerset joined a four-month NATO submarine-hunting deployment in the North Atlantic.
The Ministry of Defence stated that Royal Navy units were activated 116 times in the year through March 2026, shadowing 61 warships and 28 merchant vessels — a 30 percent increase over two years. The uptick follows the June seizure of the tanker Smyrtos by Royal Marines, the first direct boarding of a shadow fleet ship by British forces, which the MoD said has compelled Russia to divert warships away from core missions to guard cargo.