Navy on alert as Putin’s warships head for British waters

The Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s flagship and its only aircraft carrier, could sail within a mile of Britain’s coast on its way to the Mediterranean to attack rebel forces in Aleppo
The Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s flagship and its only aircraft carrier, could sail within a mile of Britain’s coast on its way to the Mediterranean to attack rebel forces in Aleppo
TASS/GETTY IMAGES

The Royal Navy is sending two warships to intercept a heavily armed Russian aircraft carrier as it travels close to UK waters on its way to bomb rebel forces in Aleppo, The Times has learnt.

Maritime patrol aircraft from fellow Nato nations will also track the Russian flagship and seven escorting vessels, including a nuclear-powered cruiser, when they enter the UK’s area of interest as early as next week. Britain is without such surveillance planes because of cost cutting.

“It is significant,” a defence source said of the deployment of the Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s only aircraft carrier.

The vessels are expected to leave the northern Russian port of Severomorsk imminently. “We will track them through our area of interest,” the source said. The exact route