British Defense Minister John Healey accused a Russian reconnaissance ship of encroaching on British waters and projecting laser rays on military pilots on November 19.
In a speech in London, Minister John Healey pointed out that the Yantar patrol boat was on the edge of the English sea, north of Scotland, and accused the boat of being designed to "collect intelligence and map the British underground cables".
He added that a Poseidon-8 military aircraft of the Royal Air Force (RAF) was deployed to "monitor all movements of this ship" and the pilots on board said they were targeted with laser beams.
"That action by Russia is extremely dangerous," Minister Healey said. He also stressed, "if the Yantar moves south this week, we are ready."
British media reported that the Yantar had entered the UK's exclusive economic zone, an area extending a maximum of 200 nautical miles from the coast. However, the Russian ship remains close to the UK's territorial border, which is only 12 nautical miles wide from the coast.
The speech by Defense Minister John Healey marked the second time this year that the UK has spoken out about the activities of the Yantar ship.
The British government has accused the ship of maping the underground cables used by the UK and its NATO allies for energy and communications. He also said that the Yantar belongs to the Russian secret deep-sea research unit GUGI.
However, Mr. Healey noted that this was the first time Russia directly firedlasers at British military aircraft.
"We consider this an extremely serious problem. I have adjusted the naval rules of operation so that we can closely follow and monitor the operation of the Yantar when it is in our expanded waters."
The defense minister also stressed that the UK always has military options in case the Yantar changes course.
The Russian Embassy in London responded strongly to the statement of the British Defense Minister, calling it "the latest Provocative statements" and declaring the Yantar a study ship for oceanography operating in international waters.
The Russian Embassy also denied targeting UK underwater communications systems or undermining the country's security.
According to the Russian Embassy in London, the Russian card policy is one of the factors contributing to further weakening European security, thereby leading to new dangerous situations.
