Russian ships are out to sea for Harper visit
The prime minister spent the night on HMCS Fredericton during NATO exercises
GDYNIA, POLAND— A Canadian warship carrying Stephen Harper in the Baltic Sea was shadowed by two Russian frigates on Wednesday, giving the prime minister a front-row seat in the naval chess game between the West and Russia.
There was never any danger, but the incident provided some unexpected drama after Harper and his wife, Laureen, spent the night on the frigate, HMCS Fredericton.
They boarded in the Polish port of Gdynia on Tuesday night. After returning ashore on Wednesday, they departed for Rome, as the prime minister’s six-day European trip winds down.
Harper’s 20-hour visit with Canadian sailors came during a planned NATO training exercise called Baltops 2015, part of the alliance’s ongoing reassurance mission in eastern Europe aimed at countering Russian-backed unrest in Ukraine.
Defence Minister Jason Kenney — who also made the voyage — first disclosed the presence of the two Russian frigates to reporters travelling with Harper.
As they stood on the stern of the ship, Kenney pointed out two small, light-coloured vessels on the horizon.
“The deal is, these frigates were tracking the core of the NATO operation Baltops last night and this morning,” Kenney said.
About a half-hour later, Kenney delivered a short update.
“They were . . . tracking us east and this vessel corrected to go south,” he said.
Cmdr. Jeffrey Murray, the Fredericton’s captain, said his ship was heading south to Poland while the other two vessels were heading east and southeast. The closest they came to the Fredericton was seven nautical miles, he said.
“Their interactions have been non-interfering and non-threatening, so we carry on with our exercises and our operations and there’s been no impact,” Murray said.
Until two years ago, Russia took part in the yearly naval exercise in partnership with NATO. It has a naval base not far from Poland, said Murray. But when relations between the West and Russia deteriorated over Moscow’s backing of rebels in Ukraine’s east and its annexation of Crimea, they were out of that military club.
“I fully expect that they are keeping situation awareness as all militaries do when they’re operating,” Murray said.