LONDON, March 7. /TASS/. A UK Navy destroyer, HMS Defender, was called upon to escort a Russian naval task group led by the Admiral Gorshkov frigate off the United Kingdom’s coast, the Royal Navy’s press service said on Wednesday.

"Portsmouth-based Defender is monitoring the Russian task group and keeping track of their activity in areas of national interest," the Royal Navy said in a statement.

The Royal Navy quoted the Minister for the Armed Forces, Mark Lancaster, as saying that London and its allies would continue its work "to shadow Russian ships passing through international waters close to our shores, to ensure the Russian navy follows the correct protocol on its journey."

A task group comprising the Admiral Gorshkov, the Elbrus multifunctional logistics support vessel, the Nikolai Chiker rescue tug and the Kama sea tanker, left the Russian port city of Severomorsk on February 26 and entered the English Channel on March 5. Within the next few months, the ships’ crews will be performing long-distance voyage missions in various parts of the World Ocean. The voyage aims to demonstrate the Russian Navy’s flag and provide for naval presence in operational areas of the long-distance oceanic zone.

This is the first voyage for the Admiral Gorshkov frigate. Before that, it made only inter-fleet and inter-base transits.