
Russian warship lurking near Outer Hebrides spying on Britain's missile defences caught by Navy
PUTIN MISSILE SPIES Russian warship lurking near Outer Hebrides spying on Britain's missile defences caught by Navy
A RUSSIAN warship was caught by the Navy spying on Britain's missile defences.
It was found lurking near the Outer Hebrides during Nato live fire tests on shooting down a Russian-style missile.
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Russian spy ship Yuri Ivanov is tracked by the Navy
Credit: Royal Navy
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HMS Hurworth shadowing warship Stoikiy in the Channel
Credit: Royal Navy
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HMS Hurworth and a helicopter during the alert
Credit: Royal Navy
The Yuri Ivanov, a so-called Russian research ship, was trying to watch the exercise, known as Formidable Shield.
The drills involved HMS Dragon, one of the Navy's most powerful warships, firing a £1million Sea Viper missile at a target designed to simulate Moscow's formidable hypersonic weapons.
The Navy hailed the test a 'huge moment' as the Sea Viper obliterated the incoming missile.
Moments after the war games finished, HMS Dragon was ordered to hunt down Vladimir Putin's spy ship.
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The Navy said: 'HMS Dragon launched her Merlin helicopter to collect information until the Yuri Ivanov headed north towards its Arctic home.'
Separately two Navy minehunters, HMS Ledbury and HMS Hurworth, were scrambled in the Channel to shadow Russian corvette Stoikiy.
Lieutenant Commander James Bradshaw, captain of HMS Hurworth, said: 'This was all in a day's work for the ship's company.'
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The Navy ordered one of its vessels to hunt down Vladimir Putin's spy ship
Credit: Alamy
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Times
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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Russian tourists flock back to Europe
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He told the Telegraph: 'In the fourth year of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, it is extremely surprising to see statistics showing an increase in the number of visas issued to Russian citizens and a growth in tourist traffic from Russia to EU countries. 'We know that Russian society overwhelmingly supports the war. Moreover, it prefers to think that Russia is at war with the West and not with Ukraine, where the Russian army commits war crimes on massive scale.' He added: 'With increasing number of Russia's cyberattacks against EU member states, acts of sabotage and all sort of hybrid activities aimed at undermining European democracies, it is disturbing that Russian citizens can easily enjoy the benefits of travelling to Europe. 'Continuing to ignore this reality is short-sighted. It's a matter of European security.' 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Jan Lipavsky, foreign minister of the Czech Republic, accused those welcoming Russian holidaymakers of undermining the EU's sanctions against Moscow in return for wealthy tourists' cash. He told The Telegraph, 'It is deeply troubling to see some EU countries returning to business as usual with Russian tourists while Ukraine continues to suffer under brutal aggression. 'Czechia has taken a principled stance – we do not process any tourist visa applications and we believe this should be the standard across the European Union.' Mr Lipavsky said the numbers of tourists coming to the EU last year was 'totally excessive' and raised serious concerns 'not only from a security standpoint, but also from a moral one'. He said, 'At such volumes, we cannot rule out the possibility that individuals complicit in war crimes are among those vacationing in our resorts. That is unacceptable.' He added, 'I also see that some countries have a self-interested motive – they want the income from Russian tourism. It's not just about visa fees; it's about money spent on hotels, shopping, tickets and so on. Russians are known to spend a lot. 'This undermines the credibility of our sanctions regime and sends a confusing message about our values.' Lifeline for dissidents Andrei Soldatov is a senior fellow with the Center for European Policy Analysis think tank and a Russian investigative journalist specialising in the activities of the Kremlin's secret services. He said the visas were valuable for dissidents and families that wanted to visit them abroad. He said, 'it is a problem which doesn't have a simple solution. These are also the countries which help people with anti-Kremlin views move out. 'To make it safe for these people one needs to hide their applications in a stream of other applications. One cannot really expect a Russian dissident to come to a foreign embassy for a 'dissident visa', given the high level of repression in the country.' Popular locations Across the EU, visitor numbers are just a tenth of what they were in 2019, before the pandemic and the invasion, but this varies substantially across the bloc. In 2024, just six EU countries saw an increase in guest nights booked by Russians via websites such as Airbnb, according to figures from Eurostat. Italy saw the largest increase of 18.9 per cent, with 321,678 guest nights across the year, the highest in Europe. France remains the third most popular location for Russian tourists with 203,072 guest nights per year, which is an increase of 7.8 per cent - the fourth highest spike in Europe. Spain is second at 259,068 guest nights, down 3.6 per cent from the previous year, according to the figures obtained from the EU's statistics agency. 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The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Global moral consensus is just wishful thinking
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