British pensioners targeted by Russian warship break silence on 'scary' encounter

Jane Kelvey, 68, and her husband Alan, 70, were onboard a yacht that was subjected to warning shots from a Russian warship on Tuesday

A retired British couple onboard the yacht targeted by a Russian warship today have spoken of the "scary" encounter.

Jane Kelvey, 68, and her husband Alan, 70, were on their 40ft yacht, Bright Future, travelling from the south coast of England towards France when shots were fired several times from the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich.

“It was a bit scary,” Mrs Kelvey told The i Paper. “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 (MoD) said the Russian vessel fired warning shots after making attempts to contact the yacht, which was about 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight, outside the UK’s territorial waters.

An MoD spokesperson said: “These (shots) were not aimed at the vessel and were an attempt to prevent a possible collision.”

It is understood that the warship had been drifting rather than being manoeuvred under power.

Speaking about the "deeply concerning" encounter, Keir Starmer said: ""What happened in the Channel, obviously deeply concerning, and obviously feel for the couple on the yacht. It looks the MOD assessment as if it was a drifting warship that fired a warning shot. That's the assessment, clearly that shouldn't have happened. I think it's reckless, but it does look as if the MOD assessment is it was drifting, and that's what it is.

"Now, that doesn't take away from the fact that clearly Russia is aggressive across Europe. We're seeing the Ukraine war now in its fifth year, clear Russian aggression, and we are seeing state backed attacks across Europe. We were discussing it here at the G7 yesterday, so we've got to be on our guard, but the incident in the Channel as say MOD assessment is that it was actually a drifting warship, rather than anything more sinister."

Mrs Kelvey, who retired in 2023 alongside her husband, said the shots were “totally unnecessary”, adding: “We didn’t have any contact from them (Admiral Grigorovich) on our radio.”

Russian warships passing through the English Channel are routinely shadowed by the Royal Navy, with offshore patrol vessel HMS Mersey monitoring the Admiral Grigorovich at the time of the incident on Tuesday.

The couple contacted the UK Coastguard before a boat from HMS Tyne, another patrol vessel, was sent to the yacht to gather details and check on their safety.

The MoD spokesperson added: “We assess that this is an isolated incident and not linked to the UK’s interception of the Smyrtos this weekend.”

The Russian defence ministry said on the Telegram channel at the time that the yacht had been on a “dangerous approach” and the warning shots were fired after attempting to draw the attention of the yacht’s crew through signal flares and sound signals, according to a translation.

It said the Russian sailors had acted “in strict accordance” with international shipping regulations.

Mr Kelvey described the Russian statement as “just normal lies” as the couple inisisted 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 said the Russian warship did not appear on the automatic identification system (AIS), 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 (very high frequency radio) 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 said.

His wife added: “They didn’t send up any flares, they didn’t try to radio us, they weren’t, they didn’t look to us like they were adrift, and we were definitely not on a collision course.”

A Kremlin statement 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."

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