'W​e see you!' Defence Secretary lashes out at Vladimir Putin in emergency press conference after Russian warship sails through Channel

Fintan Starkey
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:03:48 +0000

John Healey has sent a warning to Vladimir Putin after a Russian warship was seen sailing through the Channel.

The Defence Secretary told a press conference in Downing Street that in the past few weeks, while many eyes were trained on the Middle East crisis, the UK, in partnership with Norway and other allies, responded to "increased Russian activity" in the Atlantic north of the UK.

This involved a Russian Akula-class nuclear-powered attack submarine and two specialist submarines from Russia’s ministry of defence deep sea research programme known as GUGI (Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research), he said.

Mr Healey said: "To President Putin we say, we see you.

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"We see your activity over our cables and our pipelines, and you should know that any attempt to damage them will not be tolerated and will have serious consequences."

He also thanked Norwegian allies for helping with the operation.

Mr Healey has claimed Mr Putin wants the UK to be "distracted" by the Middle East.

The Defence Secretary said: "What I'm setting out today demonstrates that we are not just exposing his covert operation, but we are saying to him that we recognise Russia as the primary threat to the UK and to Nato.

"We will not take our eyes off Putin, whilst at the same time we act to protect our British interests and our British allies in the Middle East."

He continued to confirm the mission had failed "because this Government completed our first duty".

Mr Healey confirmed later this year the UK's carrier group will be deployed to the High North and lead the new Nato mission, Arctic Sentry, which he said was "where it is most needed".

The Russian attack submarine and two spy submarines in the North Atlantic were monitored for a month before they retreated.

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Moscow says it is "entitled" to protect Russian interests after the Admiral Grigorovich was seen escorting two sanctioned oil tankers through the Channel to protect them from "piracy".

Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov said: "Over the past few months, we have witnessed repeated incidents of piracy in international waters. These incidents of piracy have, among other things, harmed the economic interests of the Russian Federation.

"The Russian Federation considers itself entitled to, and will certainly take, measures to protect its interests."

In the press conference, Mr Healy also confirmed the US remains "totally, totally committed to Nato" and Article 5, which relates to collective defence.

The Defence Secretary said he had discussed the issue when he spoke to his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth.

When asked about Donald Trump's remarks on Truth Social yesterday that Nato "was not there when we needed them and won't be there again", Mr Healey said he is "really not going to comment on social media posts".

However, he said Mr Hegseth was: "Equally strong in requiring European Nato nations like the UK to step up, to step up on Ukraine, which we have, to step up on defence spending, which we have, and we are, and step up also on European leadership within Nato.

"That's in many ways exactly what we're doing with this operation."