Russia’s secret hybrid war against the UK is escalating. This is how we know

Full article: When sailors on a Russian warship [fired warning shots](https://inews.co.uk/news/russian-warship-fires-warning-shot-in-english-channel-days-after-putins-tanker-seized-4482290?ico=in-line_link) in the air above a British yacht in the English Channel, it was the latest in a series of extraordinary developments deepening tensions between Britain and Russia.

The Russian Defence Ministry said the *Admiral Grigorovich*‘s crew had made several attempts to contact the yacht and had acted in “strict accordance with international shipping regulations”, but Sir Keir Starmer called the incident “reckless”. Alan and Jane Kelvey, the retired British couple on board the *Bright Future*, [told *The i Paper*](https://inews.co.uk/news/retired-uk-couple-reveal-scary-moment-russian-warship-fired-warning-shots-at-yacht-4482839?ico=in-line_link) they had received no radio contact before the shots were fired.

A day earlier, a Ukrainian man was [convicted ](https://inews.co.uk/news/starmer-targeted-sex-worker-conspiracy-putins-playbook-4471724?ico=in-line_link)of setting fire to the Prime Minister’s former home and car on the orders of an anonymous Russian handler. And in the early hours of Sunday morning, Royal Marine Commandos boarded a Russian [“shadow fleet” oil tanker](https://inews.co.uk/news/how-uk-forces-operation-seize-putin-shadow-tanker-unfolded-4477123?srsltid=AfmBOop2R1HRKX9L7kgWxOEic4wk-ETYf5ALpuFoqCjNQGl9A9qEias2&ico=in-line_link).

These events, in quick succession, have illustrated what security officials describe as a “full spectrum threat” from Russia, which is now being exhibited on land and sea, in cyber space and on the streets, in political life and across the armed forces.

It is part of the “interlocking web of security challenges” now being tackled by the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli warned in December.

“We are now operating in a space between peace and war,” she said in her first public speech since taking on the role.

# Maritime activity

The multi-faceted nature of Russian threats towards the UK were alluded to by the former defence secretary John Healey last week, when he wrote in his resignation letter that planned investment in protecting Britain fell “well short of what is required”.

Pointing to the Prime Minister’s statement earlier this month that the UK and several Nato countries share the assessment that “there could be an attack by Russia on Nato as soon as 2030”, Healey wrote that the UK was already leading a mission with its allies to deter Russian activity in the Arctic and had committed to deploying troops to Ukraine after any ceasefire.

But it is the Royal Navy which has most recently been responding to Russian-linked activity. On Sunday, Royal Marine Commandos boarded the *Smyrtos* oil tanker, which the National Crime Agency alleges was being used to evade sanctions as part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”.

Hundreds of[ sanctioned Russian tankers have sailed through UK waters](https://inews.co.uk/news/205-putin-shadow-ships-uk-waters-unchallenged-4442029?ico=in-line_link) since the UK Government announced new powers to seize them earlier this year, *The i Paper* has revealed.

While experts say the use of such vessels is primarily driven by efforts to continue the international sale of Russian oil, there are concerns they can be used for other functions.

Authorities in Finland have charged officers at the helm of a shadow fleet tanker of damaging undersea electricity and telecommunications cables by dragging its anchor along the seabed in December 2024.

When the French military seized another sanctioned oil tanker in October, there were suspicions that the ship had been the launchpad for drones that forced the [closure of airports in Denmark ](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/danish-airport-forced-to-close-after-drones-spotted-in-airspace-3937435?ico=in-line_link)days earlier.

Gonzalo Saiz Erausquin, a research fellow specialising in sanctions evasion at the Royal United Services Institute, said: “There’s always been an association of the shadow fleet not just as a sanctions evasion risk, but also a national security one.”

British forces have also been engaged in the monitoring of Russian military vessels, including an attack submarine that was tracked by British warships and military aircraft in April, and the [*Yantar* spy ship](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/how-worried-should-be-russia-ships-off-uk-waters-4061981?ico=in-line_link) as it sailed near British waters in November.

The Royal Navy said that vessels tracking the Yantar “experienced GPS jamming”, and that the ship’s crew directed lasers at RAF pilots “in a reckless and dangerous act”.

GPS jamming has not been confined to incidents at sea. [Thousands of commercial planes, including British Airways, Jet2 and easyJet flights, have experienced suspected Russian “spoofing” ](https://inews.co.uk/news/thousands-planes-lost-sat-nav-putin-jammed-flights-4444205?ico=in-line_link)of onboard GPS systems in the last year.

In December, *The i Paper* also revealed that [suspected Russian spies had slipped into the UK aboard commercial cargo vessels ](https://inews.co.uk/news/suspected-russian-spies-entered-uk-using-cargo-ships-4049755?ico=in-line_link)before visiting areas close to military bases and critical infrastructure.

They entered Britain via docks at Torquay, Middlesbrough and Grangemouth then travelled near to Lulworth firing range in Dorset – where British forces have been preparing Ukrainian soldiers for combat against Russia – as well as secure energy sites which serve as major UK suppliers of ground and aviation fuels.

# Sabotage and

But many other acts of Russian sabotage directed at the UK have proven harder to attribute. A series of attacks have been carried out by hired “proxies” acting at the behest of Russian intelligence services, but who are recruited online by anonymous agents and paid in cryptocurrency to minimise the chances of interception.

One such group was behind a plot to send [exploding neck massage pillows ](https://inews.co.uk/news/putins-war-streets-criminal-networks-sowing-mayhem-russia-4449615?ico=in-line_link)across Europe in July 2024, with one of the devices bursting into flames at a DHL depot in Birmingham.

Another cell was tasked with setting an East London warehouse full of supplies destined for Ukraine’s war effort on fire in March 2024, as well as plotting to kidnap a dissident Russian restaurateur and burn his business to the ground.

And on Monday, two men were convicted of being behind three fires that targeted property linked to Starmer last May, after being tasked by an anonymous Russian-speaking account on Telegram.

British investigators did not link the plot directly to the Russian state, but the tactics used match Russian sabotage operations across Europe, and the BBC identified the mysterious Telegram handler as a Russian diplomat.

The arsonist who set the fires targeting Starmer had previously been paid by the same account with spraying anti-Muslim graffiti and putting up posters for what appeared to be a far-right group calling itself Direct Action UK.

As well as posting a steady stream of hate speech against Muslims and immigrants and calling for the “remigration” of non-whites from Britain, the group’s public-facing accounts were offering £4,000 payments for setting police cars on fire and £100 in cryptocurrency for winning an anti-Muslim graffiti “competition”.