British ships and helicopters monitored Russian vessels in the kingdom's waters for the second time in a month

British warships and helicopters have been deployed for the second time in a month to monitor Russian activity in the kingdom's waters, the country's Navy has said.

The guided-missile destroyer Dragon was tracking the Russian reconnaissance ship Yuri Ivanov, which was in the waters off the Western Isles in Scotland, after large-scale NATO exercises concluded nearby.

The destroyer continued surveillance and raised its Merlin helicopter to gather information from the sky until the Russian ship headed north to its base in the Arctic.

Meanwhile, the escort destroyers HMS Ledbury and HMS Hurworth, along with 814 Naval Aviation Squadron, were called upon to escort the Russian corvette Stoikiy as it sailed west through the English Channel to meet two cargo ships, Sparta IV and General Skobelev, returning from the Mediterranean.

Subsequently, a Russian corvette escorted the two ships eastward, and the British HMS Hurworth, as part of a joint NATO effort, monitored "every movement" of the Russian ships returning to the Baltic Sea.

The operation began late in the evening of May 18 and ended in the afternoon of the 22nd. During the transit to the east, the Russian group of ships was monitored by a Merlin Mk2 helicopter, and aircraft and warships of NATO allies were also involved in the surveillance.

• In early April, the Sunday Times published an investigation into the discovery of alleged Russian sensors in the seas around Britain.

• The newspaper reported that the devices were likely installed to gather intelligence on four British Avangard-class nuclear submarines. The British military has deemed such Russian actions a threat to national security.

• Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin did not deny that Russia is monitoring British nuclear submarines in the waters around the UK.