'We Are Ready': Defence Secretary Delivers Warning To Putin Over Russian Spy Ship Off UK Coast

Russian President Vladimir Putin.Defence secretary John Healey has warned Vladimir Putin “we are ready” after he revealed a Russian spy ship is “on the edge of UK waters”.The cabinet minister said the Yantar had “entered the UK’s wider waters over the last few weeks” and has been gathering intelligence and mapping the UK’s undersea cables.Healey said the ship had directed lasers at the pilots of RAF surveillance aircraft monitoring its activities off the coast of Scotland.“That Russian action is deeply dangerous, and this is the second time this year this ship has deployed to UK waters. “So my message to Russia and to Putin is this: We see you. We know what you’re doing. And if the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready.”BREAKING: Defence secretary John Healey says British forces were hit by lasers while tracking a Russian spy ship on the edge of UK waters north of Scotland.https://t.co/P3KxMSLHAM📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/1CKIXFFhgd— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 19, 2025Healey said the Yantar is part of a Russian programme called the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research, which is “designed to have capabilities which can undertake surveillance in peacetime and sabotage in conflict”.“That is why we’ve been determined, whenever the Yantar comes into British wider waters, we track it, we deter it and we say to Putin we are ready, and we do that alongside allies,” he said.“You saw this last year in the way that Britain led the response to attacks on critical infrastructure with other Baltic and Nordic nations, and then Nato stepped in as well with their operation.“So, it’s a demonstration, if you like, of a British readiness to act, a British capability to act, because, make no mistake, we will not tolerate a threat to the British people’s essential connections under water.”Related...Kremlin Plays Down Speculation Putin Has Fallen Out With His Top DiplomatZack Polanski Says He Would Try To Persuade Vladimir Putin To Give Up His Nuclear WeaponsPutin Stoops To A New Low By Training Pre-School Children For Military, UK Says

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