Russian Frigate Neustrashimy Fires Live Rounds Near Plymouth as New UK Prime Minister Takes Office

A Russian 100 mm-calibre frigate, Neustrashimy, conducted a 30-minute live-fire test of its main cannon in international waters about 46 miles south of Plymouth. The exercise, carried out between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on a Monday, involved firing rounds at a rate of up to 50 per minute and a range exceeding 12 miles. A Royal Navy patrol vessel, HMS Tyne, was ordered to keep a five-mile safety distance, while two RAF Typhoon jets, a Voyager refuelling aircraft, and British and French helicopters operated in the vicinity. The incident prompted the rapid scramble of at least five British and French military aircraft, including two Typhoons from RAF Coningsby that circled the South Coast.

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Neustrashimy, a 130-metre frigate with 200 crew members that recently completed a high-tech refit, has been escorting Russia’s “shadow-fleet” oil tankers through the Channel. The vessel replaced the Admiral Grigorivich, which last month fired warning shots near a British yacht. The English Channel is the world’s busiest shipping lane, with roughly 500 commercial vessels transiting daily. International maritime practice normally requires a NAVAREA safety bulletin before live-fire exercises, a protocol the Russian navy did not follow.

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The UK Ministry of Defence said the Royal Navy continues to track Neustrashimy closely and stands ready to protect national security. It added that the Typhoons were part of the Quick Reaction Alert Force and were not deployed to monitor the Russian frigate. French authorities likewise deployed a military aircraft to jointly observe the frigate’s movements.

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• “We should see yesterday’s events as performative and irresponsible. It’s not the first time that Russia has behaved like this, and frankly, it’s the tip of the iceberg of the daily threats that this country faces and our allies face.” — Wes Streeting, newly-installed defence secretary

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• “Everything about the exercise was designed to stay inside the bounds of what is legally defensible while still generating the desired effect: visible reassertion of Russian naval presence close to the UK, apparently deliberately timed to coincide with a change of prime minister.” — Lord Dannatt

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• “The pattern continues of a steady raising of pressure, testing reactions, normalising presence, and extracting a propaganda dividend at minimal cost.” — Dr Salisbury, a naval expert and senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute

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