Russian warship carried out firing exercise off Plymouth coast

Russian warship asked to 'clarify its intentions' off British coast

A Russian warship, shadowed by a Royal Navy vessel, carried out a live-fire artillery exercise just 46 miles (74km) south of Plymouth on Monday.

The Royal Navy monitored the exercise and is tracking "the vessel's activity closely", a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said.

The BBC has been told that, prior to opening fire, Russian frigate Neustrashimy (English: Dauntless) had informed the Royal Navy Offshore Patrol Vessel, HMS Tyne, of its intention to conduct gunnery activity.

Newly appointed Defence Secretary Wes Streeting called the exercise "performative and irresponsible". The Kremlin has signalled there was no link between the exercise and Andy Burnham taking office as prime minister.

"All [military] exercises and all actions undertaken by our warships are carried out in strict compliance with international and maritime law," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told BBC News.

"Therefore, there is no need to see any signals in this," he said.

However, Peskov added that Burnham had sent signals to Russia, saying: "One of the first things the new British prime minister did as he took office was to declare his unconditional support for Ukraine and, accordingly, declare the UK's intention to continue doing everything it possibly can to continue the war."

Streeting said Russia "should be in no doubt about the resolve" of the new government and prime minister.

The live-fire exercise took place in international waters and lasted for 30 minutes.

The Russian warship requested that the Royal Navy's HMS Tyne reposition to a safer distance, which it did.

The Russian frigate was also being monitored by a French military aircraft which made radio contact with the warship asking it to clarify its intentions, the BBC has been told.

BBC Verify has analysed flight and ship-tracking data which shows the position of HMS Tyne and several British military aircraft operating in and around the Channel near Plymouth on Monday.

Flight data on ADS-B Exchange indicates at least four Royal Air Force and Royal Navy aircraft were flying off the coast of Dorset mostly above the UK's territorial waters, including two Eurofighter Typhoons, a Voyager air refuelling tanker and a Super Lynx helicopter.

A French military H160M Guépard helicopter also flew out and over the Channel during the afternoon. It is not clear if this is the aircraft which made contact with the Russian warship.

Data on ship-tracking service MarineTraffic shows HMS Tyne began to broadcast its location about 40 miles off Plymouth at 13:57