The Royal Navy has been tracking a “suspicious” Russian ship that spent 14 hours stopped over undersea data cables in the Bristol Channel.
The cargo vessel Sinegorsk sailed into the Bristol Channel on Tuesday night and appeared to have dropped anchor roughly two miles off Minehead, on the north coast of Somerset.
Less than a mile from her location are undersea telecoms cables connecting Britain to the US, Canada, Spain and Portugal.
Alicia Kearns, the shadow security minister, said: “The movements of this Russian ship are deeply suspicious, right over our transatlantic deep-sea data cables.”
“Yet another reminder of the persistent and pernicious threats our country faces from Putin and his allies.”
The Sinegorsk’s most recent recorded port visit was three weeks ago at Arkhangelsk in Russia – a major trading port that is also the headquarters of the Russian navy’s Northern Fleet.
Ship remained stationary for hours
Information from MarineTraffic revealed the Sinegorsk travelling up the Bristol Channel on Tuesday night before grinding to a halt approximately two nautical miles off Minehead at around 11pm.
She remained stationary over that spot, suggesting the ship was anchored there, until about 2pm on Wednesday.
Five undersea data cables run within three quarters of a mile of where the Sinegorsk sat. Two of those form the TGN Atlantic cable system, connecting Britain to New York. Another cable, EXA Express, links the UK to Nova Scotia in Canada, a global telecoms meeting point.
The remaining pair, forming the VSNL Western Europe cable network, connect Spain and Portugal to the UK reprots The Telegraph.
Aircraft-tracking websites showed that a Coastguard surveillance aeroplane, registered G-HMGC, spent about half an hour circling the Sinegorsk on Wednesday morning.
Additional surveillance by a Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter flying under the callsign Talon 1, which took off from Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, saw the Sinegorsk sailing away to the west just before 2pm.
Wildcats can be armed with up to four Sea Venom anti-ship missiles or Sting Ray torpedoes. It is not known whether the helicopter that chased off the Sinegorsk was armed.
Purpose of stopover remains unclear
What the Russian ship was doing during the 14 hours she spent off Minehead, where she would have been visible to holidaymakers at the seaside town’s Butlin’s resort, remains a mystery.
Ministry of Defence sources suggested the Sinegorsk may have entered the Bristol Channel to shelter from bad weather.
The Met Office‘s maritime forecast for Wednesday said that sailors should expect Force 6 winds, described as a “strong breeze” by the Royal Meteorological Society. Sea state forecasts for Wednesday were “moderate or rough”, along with “occasional rain or showers”.
Russian ships have previously been linked to attempts to interfere with undersea infrastructure.
The crew of a Russian tanker, Fitburg, were arrested by Finnish authorities in December after undersea cables between Helsinki and Tallinn were damaged as their ship passed over them.
Earlier in the year, a well-known Russian cable-tapping vessel, Yantar, entered British waters and prompted a surveillance operation at sea by the Royal Navy. John Healey, the Defence Secretary, told Parliament: “Let me be clear, this is a spy ship.”