MoD tried to shut our story down, say British couple on yacht that faced warning shots from Russian ship
The owners of the yacht, which encountered warning shots from a Russian warship in the English Channel, accused the Ministry of Defense (MoD) of “trying to cover up the story”.
Jane Kelvey, 68, and her husband Alan, 70, were killed by a Russian frigate. Admiral Grigorovich, their yacht was opened fire on Bright Future, About 37 miles off the coast of the Isle of Wight on Tuesday morning.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the yacht was in a “dangerous approach” towards the United States. Admiral Grigorovich Due to adverse weather conditions, shots are being fired to attract the attention of the yacht crew.
But the couple, disturbed by the implication that anything was wrong, vehemently denied they were on a “dangerous path” and said there were no flares or radio signals before the gunfire.
The Defense Ministry also described the incident as “maritime-related” and avoided using language that would describe the situation as escalatory or offensive by Russia.
Speaking about the Ministry of Defence, Mr Kelvey said: Telegram: “Now they are trying to close the story by saying that it was foggy and that they fired flares. Nonsense.
“It wasn’t a fog problem. [We could] we see it clearly. He could see us clearly. We couldn’t see any glare whatsoever. Normally they explode and you see them.
Mrs Kelvey said BBC news night that the battleship “honored its horn five times, meaning ‘did you see us?’ “It means,” he said.
He said they “immediately” turned two degrees towards the port to see that they had made a “deliberate change of course”.
He added: “About a minute later they honked their horn five more times, followed immediately by four to five small arms fire. This was not aimed at us. We think it was warning fire going up into the air.”
The Ministry of Defense described the shootings as an “isolated incident” but the couple said they believed the ministry was trying to downplay what happened for fear of it being “provocative”.
Mr Kelvey was asked the following question: Telegram If there was any risk of collision with the battleship, he replied: “Absolutely not” when he saw the frigate “from miles away”.
Authorities were alerted when the warship fired warning shots nearby from a distance of about 500 yards (457 meters). As Russian warships are routinely followed by the Royal Navy as they transit the English Channel, the offshore patrol ship HMS mersey He was watching the frigate.
A sea boat from HMS tyneAnother patrol vessel, , was dispatched to the yacht to gather information and check the safety of the crew.
The incident occurred just two days after Royal Marines and National Crime Agency officers boarded the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet tanker. Izmir On the channel.
Sir Keir Starmer said it was “reckless” for a Russian warship to fire warning shots near a yacht in the English Channel, but insisted there was no sign it was anything “more malicious” than a drifting ship.
But he added that this “does not negate the fact that Russia is openly aggressive across Europe” and vowed to increase its support for Ukraine.
Conservatives said the incident was “extremely concerning” and showed “once again that Russia poses a direct threat to our nation.”
