RUSSIA SHIP ALERT
MP: MoD ‘failing Scotland’ as frigate carries out exercise in our waters
A RUSSIAN warship reportedly equipped with “vomit-inducing” chemical weaponry has conducted hostile exercises off the coast of Scotland.
The frigate was intercepted by a Royal Navy destroyer in the Moray Firth.
HMS Defender left Newcastle on Saturday to head to the north-east of Scotland and monitor the intruder. The incident led to accusations from the SNP that the Ministry of Defence was “failing Scotland”.
The Royal Navy was called upon to keep watch on the frigate Admiral Gorshkov and three auxiliary ships as they passed close to UK territorial waters.
The shipping tracker app Marine Traffic recorded unusual activity on Monday, with two Russian naval support vessels stopping in the Moray Firth.
Russian media later claimed one of the ships conducted “air defence and counter sabotage exercises” inside Scottish waters, close to RAF Lossiemouth.
The Russian frigate is reported to have been fitted with the Fillin 5P-42 weapon, a “visual optical interference” device designed to cause “dizziness, nausea and feelings of disorientation”.
Stewart McDonald, the SNP defence spokesman, said: “The UK’s Ministry of Defence is failing Scotland, allowing Russian navy vessels sailing through our territorial waters at will to conduct provocative drills like this.
“Sightings of this new class of Russian navy vessel also underline why years of treating Russian threats as a joke are over.
“It is unacceptable that it takes over 24 hours for the Royal Navy to respond to threats in Scottish waters from bases on the south coast of England.
“This is not the first time, and will not be the last, that military threats have emerged from Scotland’s high north, but the Tories seem unprepared and unwilling to undertake the most basic of security tasks – keeping Scotland safe from this provocation.
“It’s time the UK Government finally took Scotland’s security seriously.”
The MoD pushed back hard against any suggestion they had been caught napping. Armed Forces Minister Mark Lancaster said: “The Royal Navy is always standing ready to defend the UK.
“We will continue to work with our allies to shadow Russian ships passing through international waters close to our shores, to ensure the Russian navy follows the correct protocol on its journey.”