Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what Russian Navy ships HMS Severn intercepted in the English Channel on 25 June 2014; and whether HMS Severn was assigned to the Fleet Ready Escort role at that time.

Mr Mark Francois

Two Russian Federation Navy ships transited the English Channel on 25 June 2014. These were the Ropucha Class Landing Ships Olengorsky Gornyak and Georgiy Pobedonosets.

As the hon. Member will be aware from my letter to him of 27 January 2014 (Official Report, columns 414-415W), there are usually a number of Royal Navy units available in UK waters at any one time and, if it is appropriate, one of those units could be reprioritised to undertake a required task. In this case, HMS Severn was better placed to respond, and it made the most operational sense to utilise her. At the same time the Fleet Ready Escort remained available at high readiness.