A retired British couple who were aboard a yacht targeted by a Russian warship have recounted their 'scary' experience. Jane Kelvey, 68, and her husband Alan, 70, were sailing their 40ft yacht, Bright Future, from the south coast of England towards France when the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich fired several warning shots.
'It was a bit scary,' Mrs Kelvey confessed. 'I crouched down. I didn't think our safety was in danger. But it was certainly unusual. As we sailed away, we said to each other, what the hell just happened?'
The Ministry of Defence reported that the Russian vessel discharged warning shots after attempting to contact the yacht, which was approximately 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight, beyond the UK's territorial waters.
An MoD spokesperson clarified: 'These shots were not aimed at the vessel and were an attempt to prevent a possible collision.' It is believed that the warship had been drifting rather than being actively steered.
Mrs Kelvey, who retired in 2023 along with her husband, described the shots as 'totally unnecessary', adding: 'We didn't have any contact from them on our radio.'
Russian warships traversing the English Channel are routinely tracked by the Royal Navy, with offshore patrol vessel HMS Mersey overseeing the Admiral Grigorovich at the time of Tuesday's incident. The pair reached out to the UK Coastguard, which then dispatched a boat from HMS Tyne, another patrol vessel, to the yacht to gather information and ensure their safety.
The MoD spokesperson further commented: 'We assess that this is an isolated incident and not linked to the UK's interception of the Smyrtos this weekend.'
At the time, the Russian defence ministry stated on its Telegram channel that the yacht had been on a 'dangerous approach' and the warning shots were fired after trying to alert the yacht's crew with signal flares and sound signals. It claimed that the Russian sailors had acted 'in strict accordance' with international shipping regulations.
Mr Kelvey dismissed the Russian statement as 'just normal lies', with the couple maintaining they were not on a collision course. Mrs Kelvey told BBC's Newsnight: 'It's just not true. They're blaming us, and as far as we're concerned, we were blameless.'
The 68-year-old revealed that the Russian warship did not appear on the automatic identification system, a maritime tracking system. 'It wasn't showing up on AIS,' she said. 'Normally when you're sailing across the Channel, if a convoy of warships goes past, you get a message on VHF saying give a one nautical mile exclusion zone, or something like that, but there was nothing.'
'They didn't radio us, they could have seen us coming from miles off, because we were displaying our AIS. The first thing we knew was the five blasts of a horn, we turned to port, followed by the next five blasts, and then the gunfire, and so we just turned. There were none of these flares like they say in their statement,' Mr Kelvey stated.
His wife chimed in: 'They didn't send up any flares, they didn't try to radio us, they didn't look to us like they were adrift, and we were definitely not on a collision course.'
A statement from the Kremlin read: 'Today, June 16 at 12:45, the crew of the frigate Admiral Grigorovich in the English Channel discovered the civilian sailing yacht Bright Future, flying the British flag, which was following a dangerous course under engines to approach the ship. In accordance with the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, the frigate's crew made several attempts to contact the civilian vessel on the international radio channel. There was no change in the yacht's course or response to the international radio channel requests. To attract the attention of the yacht's crew, flares were fired and sound signals were sounded. Despite these measures, the vessel continued its dangerous approach. After closing the distance to 150 metres, the frigate's commander decided to fire pre-emptively at the vessel's course with small arms. The British-flagged yacht then immediately changed course and continued moving away from the Russian warship. The crew of the frigate Admiral Grigorovich acted in strict accordance with international shipping regulations and took all necessary measures to prevent the incident.'
