Warships belonging to the Russian Northern Fleet have sailed through the English Channel in a routine and lawful passage through British waters.

A statement from the Russian Northern Fleet said:

“Today, a detachment of ships and support vessels, headed by the large anti-submarine ship Vice-Admiral Kulakov of the Northern Fleet, passed the Pas-de-Calais and continues to move southward in the English Channel.”

Destroyer Vice-Admiral Kulakov was joined by corvette Gremyachchiy and minesweeper Vladimir Emelyanov.

The vessel is allowed to pass through British waters. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) enshrines the concept of innocent passage through a coastal state’s territorial sea. Innocent passage is a concept in the law of the sea that allows for a vessel to pass through the archipelagic and territorial waters of another state, subject to certain restrictions.

Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal state.

What is the Russian Northern Fleet?

The Northern Fleet is tasked with responsibility for operations and defense in the Arctic seas along Northern Russia, including the Barents Sea and Kara Sea, as well as the northwestern maritime approaches to Russia including the Norwegian Sea and Atlantic Ocean. The Northern Fleet’s headquarters and main base are located in Severomorsk, Murmansk Oblast, with secondary bases elsewhere in the greater Kola Bay area.

 

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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41 COMMENTS

  6. This little flotilla highlights the strategic weakness of the Russian navy. Separated by land and sea areas it can never control, Russia has four fleets that can never be concentrated. For either their Northern or Baltic fleets to join up with their Black Sea fleet, it’s a question of ‘Buddy, can you do us a favour’, on the part of NATO. Of course, reinforcing the Russian Pacific fleet with ships from Europe simply invites a second Tsushima. Why do they bother?

    • You are correct Tufton, geography is big weakness for navy, this is why navy is always last for money and they will never get fantasy fleet they want of aircraft carriers and big destroyers. Ice breakers, Corvette’s, missile boats and submarines have use, a navy like the US/UK is pointless to us except for willy waving. Hope my spelling is ok, kumis does not help my english

    • As Ulya says, Russia has enough trouble trying to deal with secessionist Jihadis in its fringe provinces and stop the leaders of its buffer states going rogue to attempt to assert any influence beyond the near east.

    • Then I suppose the UK has nothing to worry about from the Russians … which is essentially what the British government has concluded in cutting UK defence capability.

        • As Joe Biden would say: “Come on Man!”

          • 10,000-troop reduction in the army
          • Tranche 1 Typhoons cut withoiut replacement
          • C-130s cut without replacement
          • MCMVs cut without replacement (“autonomous systems” will not compensate for the loss of hulls)
          • F-35Bs reduced from 138 to 60-80
          • Type 31 far less capable that the GP Type 23s they are replacing – lets be honest as envisaged they are barely corvettes and not very good ones
          • Wedgetail order cut from 5 to 3

          Tempest and Type 32 may or may not come to fruition but at minimum they are far in the future.

          The UK Government is not acting as though Russia is any kind of threat. Rhetoric is one thing, action is another.

          • T1 Typhoons cannot be upgraded and need a different missle to be used as a ADF.
            10000 is a 3500 reduction on current manpower.
            C130s were a stop gap till A400s and still have resale.
            MCMVs is a mess
            F35s no numbers cut officially over the life of the program
            Ty31 ????
            WedgeTail 3 from 5 the 2 cut were brand new airframes which Boeing are not Building Now, due to pandemic.

            we dont have a bottomless pit for kit that may never get used,

            AND BIDEN just wants to sell bombs bullets and bandages to everyone like allways

          • They’re all cuts, many of which reverse decisions taken in the last defence review.

            What is telling about the UK is that the 1998 White Paper – produced in a much more peaceful world, when the West was largely without a serious strategic rival – called for a military capability considerably more extensive than that which exists today: just one example: two carriers were to have 138 fighters assigned and be supported by 32 destroyers/frigates and 10 SSNs.

            Since that time, Russia has become considerably stronger and China is now a strategic rival to the United States. How has the UK responded?? With continuous cuts.

            The 2021 review confirms this trend. It desperately attempts to cut in some areas just to preserve funding in other areas. But the trend is clear and it will likely continue. It suggests that – apart from perhaps in the cyber realm – HMG does not really take the growing threat environment seriously.

    • Whats probably of more concern is that the tankers also provide potable water to the consorts…Not being able to produce your own water is a massive OC hit.

  8. ’The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) enshrines the concept of innocent passage through a coastal state’s territorial sea’. Interesting how this is clearly interpreted rather differently by different Nations isn’t it.

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