The UK’s Defence Ministry is investigating reports a Russian Navy frigate fired warning shots near a yacht in the English Channel.
The incident was understood to have taken place about 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight, which falls just outside UK territorial waters, on Tuesday local time.
The UK-registered civilian yacht has alleged that a Russian Navy vessel fired the warning shots at a distance of approximately 450 metres.
There were no reports of injuries or damage to the yacht.
Russia’s defence ministry said it fired the shots to divert the yacht that approached on a dangerous course in the English Channel which separates Europe from Great Britain.
The yacht altered course and moved away after the frigate Admiral Grigorovich fired warning shots, following failed attempts to establish radio contact, the ministry said.
Its actions were in accordance with international navigation rules, according to the ministry, which said all measures had been taken to prevent the incident.
The UK Ministry of Defence said it was “investigating reports of an incident in the Channel”.
The incident came just days after UK commandos intercepted and boarded a suspected Russian shadow fleet vessel nearby.
A press release from the UK Defence Ministry, published a day earlier, said two British Navy vessels had been shadowing the Admiral Grigorovich off the coast of France.
Russian warships passing through the English Channel are routinely shadowed by the Royal Navy, and patrol vessel HMS Mersey was monitoring the Russian ship at the time of the reported incident.
Officials are not linking the two events.
The UK military has had several close encounters with Russian vessels in the region and warned Moscow in November that it was ready to deal with any incursion into its territory after the ship Yantar was detected on the edge of UK waters north of Scotland.
In April, the UK and Norway said they had tracked a Russian attack sub and two spy submarines operating north of the UK for several weeks.
A Royal Navy frigate, aircraft and hundreds of personnel spent weeks following the Russian vessels and prevented them from carrying out “nefarious” activities against underwater infrastructure, then-Defence Secretary John Healey said.
He accused Moscow of using the distraction of the Iran war to ramp up malign activity against Europe.
The Russian embassy in London did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
AP/Reuters
By 
Happypal