To Russia, the Yantar is an oceanic research vessel – to others, including the UK, it’s a spy ship, and a worry for Britain’s defence chiefs.
The vessel has long been suspected of secretly mapping out Britain’s undersea cables, where more than 90% of our data, including billions of dollars of financial transactions, are transferred.
But now, a new escalation, with revelations the Yantar’s sailors targeted Royal Air Force pilots in patrol planes with lasers.
Shining lasers into a pilot’s eyes is provocative, and to use the Defence Secretary John Healey’s words, “deeply dangerous”. It’s illegal in the UK and can lead to a prison sentence.
Healey’s direct message to Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin was stark: “We see you. We know what you’re doing. And if the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready.”
By that, he is implying should the Yantar cross inside Britain’s 12-mile maritime boundary there would be a military response.
This isn’t the first time the Yantar has popped up near Britain’s shores – at the start of the year a Royal Navy submarine made the highly unusual move to surface right in front of the ship as a sort of deterrent measure.
The concern is that this is part of an ongoing operation by the Kremlin to locate and map all the vital undersea cables and pipelines that connect the UK to the rest of the world.
It is also part of a wider pattern of Russian activity, as it tests Nato’s reactions, resolve and defences. We’ve seen similar moves with the recent drone incursions across Europe, and Russian warplanes flying into Nato airspace.
When three Russian fighter jets entered Estonian skies without permission in September, Italy, Finland and Sweden scrambled jets under Nato’s mission to bolster its eastern flank.
This is all interesting intel for Russia.
