The Telegraph: Russian Warship Crossed The English Channel Under Cover

The corvette Boyky transmitted a fake signal while escorting two tankers of the shadow fleet.

The Russian corvette Boiky, equipped with guided missiles and mounted machine guns, transmitted a false identification signal as it passed through the English Channel.

As The Telegraph reported, this is not the first time this year that a warship has entered British waters after it was tracked as it passed through the English Channel and North Sea in March.

This time it passed alongside two oil tankers, the Sierra and Naxos, which are part of Russia's shadow fleet.

"The use of warships as protection was seen as an attempt by Moscow to deter Britain and other NATO states from seizing the shadow fleet vessels," the publication noted, adding that the number of Russian oil tankers passing through the English Channel has nearly doubled since London imposed sanctions on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.

The publication, quoting BBC Verify, said the Boikiy failed to activate its tracking systems when it sailed from Conakry, Guinea's capital earlier this month.

The ship reportedly failed to activate its Automatic Identification System (AIS), which alerts other seafarers and the coastguard of its location, route to ensure safe passage at sea.

Instead, the corvette was traveling under the generic identification number 400000000, causing it to erroneously show up on tracking websites, as did previous vessels using that identifier.

Verify, which used satellite imagery, tracking data and video footage to identify the warship, said it passed near the Canary Islands before meeting up with two shadow tankers at the mouth of the English Channel on June 20.

Frederik Van Loekeren, an analyst and former Belgian navy officer, said it was unusual for a Russian warship to cloak:

"Normally, if the Russians want to stay hidden, they just turn off their AIS signal. So for them to disguise themselves as something else ... is very, very unusual."

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