Russian Warship Holds Live-Fire Drill 45 Miles off Plymouth, Testing UK Defences
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 26
Russian Warship Holds Live-Fire Drill 45 Miles off Plymouth, Testing UK Defences
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 26
Summary
A Russian warship last Monday carried out a rare live-fire drill 45 miles south of Plymouth, home to the Royal Navy, in what the report says was meant to provoke, intimidate and test British and European defences.
The exercise followed a warning-shot incident near a private yacht off the Isle of Wight last month and fits a broader pattern of Russian naval pressure around the North Atlantic approaches, North Sea and Channel.
Those operations come as Moscow is suspected of mapping undersea infrastructure for possible sabotage, with Baltic pipelines and communications cables already seen as vulnerable targets.
The Plymouth drill adds to a wider rise in maritime confrontation—from the South China Sea to Hormuz—intensifying pressure on Prime Minister Andy Burnham's government to raise UK defence spending, especially on the depleted Royal Navy.