IRISH SECURITY FORCES are monitoring reports of Russian naval ships and aircraft spotted off the coast of Spain and Portugal as well as in the North Sea by British and Belgian naval vessels.
In a statement, the British Ministry of Defence said that Royal Navy warships have spent the last seven days shadowing the Russian Navy as four of its vessels sailed through the English Channel and the North Sea.
Alongside this, two RAF Typhoons scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth on Wednesday, supported by a Voyager from RAF Brize Norton, to intercept two Russian Bear-F aircraft operating near the UK.
The RAF air policing jets were launched under NATO command and were employed to monitor the Russian aircraft as they passed through international airspace.
In a six-day operation hand-in-hand with NATO allies, the Portsmouth-based frigate HMS Iron Duke shadowed the Kilo-class submarine Novorossiysk and its supporting tug Evgeny Churov through the Dover Strait and into the Atlantic.
The ships passed down the English Channel and then made their way past the coast of France monitored by French warships.
On a recent visit to Brussels The Journal heard from a number of military sources that Naval exercises by Russia could be near Ireland in the coming weeks.
The Russian naval ships are currently in the Atlantic off Spain and Portugal.
It is understood that NATO warships are also expected to be closer to Ireland next week and are monitoring Russian naval vessels.
A spokesperson for the Irish Defence Forces said that the Naval Service were aware of the “potential Russian Naval Exercises off the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone”.
The Defence Forces said that ships are permitted to “transit through the territorial waters of coastal states when conducting innocent passage” in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
“Any vessels transiting Irish waters must do so in compliance with international law and may be subject to sighting and observation by the Defence Forces without their innocent passage being infringed.
“Territorial Waters are twelve Nautical Miles from the coast of Ireland. Under UNCLOS, ships of all States enjoy freedom on the High Seas inside Exclusive Economic Zones.
“The Irish Naval Service in conjunction with the Irish Air Corps, Defence Forces Operations and the Irish Naval Service Fisheries Monitoring Centre in Haulbowline continue to remotely monitor vessels in the Irish EEZ on a 24/7 basis,” the spokesman said.
NATO Headquarters said in a statement that: “NATO’s Standing Naval Forces remain present and engaged across the Euro-Atlantic region to deter aggression and provide assurance to our Allies and Partners.”
The organisation would not comment on “future operations”.
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