LONDON, August 22. /TASS/. The Russian naval ships do not pose a threat to the United Kingdom when they pass through the English Channel, the Russian Embassy in London said in a statement on Wednesday, commenting on the British media reports that the British trawler HMS Hurworth followed the Russian frigate Admiral Makarov.
"The Russian naval ships act under international law and strictly observe the operating laws for the passing of military ships through the English Channel; they do not pose any threat to Great Britain. The British side is well aware of this fact. It only remains to regret that some British media, and sometimes political figures, are striving to present such cases as ‘incidents’ that alert British ships and make them go at sea for ‘intercept,’" the diplomatic mission said in the statement.
The Daily Star reported on Tuesday that the British naval trawler HMS Hurworth and a Wildcat helicopter followed the Russian frigate Admiral Makarov through the English Channel. The spokesperson for the British Royal Navy confirmed to the newspaper that the Russian ship was "intercepted."
The Black Sea Fleet press service earlier reported that the new frigate Admiral Makarov started a voyage from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea to its permanent base on August 18. The ship was built at the Yantar shipyards. It floated out in September 2015, after which the frigate underwent builder’s trials in the Baltic Sea and state trials in the Baltic and Barents Seas. After joining the Black Sea Fleet on December 27, 2017, the ship remained in the Baltic Sea and held a number of drills there, and on July 29, 2018, it took part in the Main Naval Parade in St. Petersburg.