Royal Navy

Royal Navy ships based in Plymouth and Portsmouth were deployed to track Russian warships through British waters this week, a navy spokesperson has said.

The Royal Navy's flagship HMS Prince of Wales is set to depart on one of its biggest deployments yet.

Altogether, 2,500 personnel from the Royal Navy, almost 600 from the RAF, and about 900 from the British Army will take part in the exercises.

The accusations come after the Royal Navy released images in March of a Russian warship that it tracked sailing near British waters.

Defence Secretary John Healey told MPs in January that the Royal Navy had monitored a Russian spy ship after it was spotted around UK waters - accusing the vessel, called Yantar, of being used to gather intelligence and map the UK's underwater infrastructure.