The British defense secretary told Parliament that the Yantar, which he described as a Russian spy ship, had come near Britain’s coast for the second time in a few months.
Britain on Wednesday warned that it faced a growing threat of aggression from Russia, asserting that a Russian spy ship had passed by the English coast for the second time in three months, in the latest incident that seemed designed to test British military capabilities.
John Healey, the British defense secretary, told Parliament that two Royal Navy ships were deployed for two days to monitor the passage of the Yantar, which he described as a Russian spy ship used for gathering intelligence and mapping Britain’s critical underwater infrastructure.
The incident is the latest in a series of incursions by Russian ships and aircraft around Britain and comes amid rising concern in Europe about threats to critical infrastructure and possible sabotage, with Western intelligence services warning of the Kremlin’s intent to punish Europe for supporting Ukraine. Last year, when the Yantar was first detected in Britain’s waters, a British submarine nearby was monitoring it, the defense secretary disclosed on Wednesday.
While the authorities have linked Russia’s intelligence services to vandalism, arson and assaults across Europe in recent years, threats at sea have generated the most anxiety and prompted the boldest responses. Last week, NATO announced it was deploying warships, patrol aircraft and drones to protect critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea after several undersea cables were cut, apparently by ships dragging their anchors along the sea floor.
Suspicion has fallen on vessels linked to Russia and China, with European Union vessels surrounding a Chinese-flagged ship for weeks and Finland seizing an oil tanker that experts and officials said might be part of Russian efforts to avoid Western sanctions.
Russian naval vessels have for years carried out missions near Britain and elsewhere. But Mr. Healey on Wednesday gave an unusual amount of detail about the normally shadowy world of military surveillance, underscoring the growing concern about Russian activity, in particular around vital underwater cables connecting Britain to continental Europe.