This is the chilling moment a Russian navy officer brandished a machine gun on a warship escorting a sanctioned cargo ship through the English Channel.
Dramatic pictures taken by The Times from a nearby fishing vessel show crew on board the Boikiy as it escorted the Baltic Leader cargo ship early on Monday.
Armed personnel were seen manning machine guns on the Boikiy, a 343ft-long Russian corvette that can carry up to 99 men at a time.
The warship moved in step with the large cargo ship sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022 for transporting weapons for Russia.
The Baltic Leader was this time carrying a shipment of military hardware from a Russian base in Tartus, Syria, where Kremlin operations are being wound down in the wake of the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad.
James Droxford, of the intelligence consultancy Droxford Maritime, said: ‘The recovered military hardware onboard Baltic Leader could be used to reinforce Russia’s combat capability in Ukraine, or to replenish military stocks in other key Russian military regions.’
The Boikiy’s escort mission began at 5am on March 3, south of Torquay.
The convoy slowly travelled across the English Channel, before it was followed by two vessels, HMS Somerset from the Royal Navy and Belgian Navy vessel BNS Crocus.
The Baltic Leader was then seen leaving the English Channel on March 4 at 2pm.
Satellite images showed the Baltic Leader left Tartus, Syria, on February 13. Russia has been winding down its use of the port since Assad’s fall.
This, combined with Ukraine’s increased capability to sink Russian ships in the Black Sea, has resulted in increased activity in Syrian waters.
Droxford said: ‘Ukraine could destroy hundreds of tons of vital Russian military material in one go by attacking the ships and that’s a huge risk for Russia to take.’
Joseph Byrne, senior analyst at the Open Source Centre, told the Times: ‘While it isn’t exactly clear what cargo the vessel is loading, Tartus is a port where Russia has been storing its military equipment, likely waiting for transport.
‘Since mid-February we have seen a number of Russian flagged cargo vessels sail from Syria into the Mediterranean and through the English Channel.
‘They have exhibited highly similar patterns of life, including switching off their transponders when entering Syrian waters and ports, not broadcasting their final destinations, and appearing to sail through the Channel with a military escort for protection.’
Russia’s military has been getting bolder in recent weeks.
Last week, NATO was forced to scramble warplanes from Poland after Vladimir Putin used strategic bombers and missiles to attack neighbouring Ukraine – even as Vladimir Putin insists he wants peace ‘as soon as possible’.
Putin’s air force deployed Tu-95MS nuclear-capable strategic bombers to pound targets across Ukraine, causing panic in Kyiv as residents rushed for the metro underground shelters.
Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Sumy, as well as in several towns across the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Chernihiv. Drones were also used by Russia, with several people reportedly suffering injuries.
Warsaw’s armed forces operation command headquarters ordered NATO jets to patrol Polish airspace as Russian bombers and missiles soared over Ukraine amid fears they could approach the Polish border.
‘Attention, due to the activity of long-range aviation of the Russian Federation, striking targets located, in particular, in the west of Ukraine, military aviation has begun to operate in the airspace of Poland,’ the command headquarters said.
Ground-based air defences and radar reconnaissance systems were also ‘put on alert’.