UK sends fighter jet toward suspected Russian spy ship Yantar loitering off the coast of Scotland

In January, HMS Somerset escorted the Yantar off the coast of the UK. Photo: UK Ministry of Defence

Two Royal Air Force aircraft are patrolling the waters off Scotland’s west coast near the St. Kilda archipelago in the northern Atlantic, a location The Insider earlier identified as the likely position of the Russian spy ship Yantar. UK Defence Secretary John Healey previously said the ship’s crew used lasers against reconnaissance pilots monitoring its activity. He called the incident “deeply dangerous,” while a tweet issued by the UK Ministry of Defence added that the vessel has been “used for gathering intelligence and mapping undersea cables, dragging sensors behind it.”

Today, two aircraft — an Airbus KC2 Voyager military tanker and a Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 fighter jet — were again deployed to patrol the area. According to data from Flightradar24, the tanker was circling south of the Hebrides when the fighter joined it. The two aircraft then flew slightly north together before the fighter began descending and switched off its transponder signal. The tanker continued circling with its signal on.

Clockwise: screenshot 1 — the tanker and fighter jet leveled off and flew out to patrol the waters near St. Kilda; screenshot 2 — the fighter jet descends and turns off its signal; screenshot 3 — the tanker leaves its signal on and circles around St. Kilda.

According to the UK Ministry of Defence, the frigate HMS Somerset is also monitoring Yantar.

Yantar is an oceanographic research vessel operated by the Russian Navy’s Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research. It carries two types of deep-sea autonomous submersibles, the “Rus” and “Konsul” class.

Healey earlier said this is the second time in 2025 that the ship had entered UK waters, a likely reference to the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Richard Dearlove, who headed MI6 from 1999 to 2004, told Sky News that the Royal Navy may be forced to «fire a warning shot» or «cut off» the ship to block its path.

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