monitoring its activities, the defence secretary has said. John Healey told a press conference in Downing Street the government was taking the "deeply dangerous" move "extremely seriously". He added that the vessel, named Yantar, was north of Scotland and had entered UK waters over the last few weeks, for the second time this year. The ship is "designed for gathering intelligence and mapping our undersea cables", Healey told journalists. "My message to Russia and to Putin is this: we see you. We know what you're doing. And if the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready," he added.

It is understood the incident involving the laser occurred within the last two weeks. Healey said he had changed the Royal Navy's rules of engagement so that it could follow the Yantar more closely "when it's in our wider waters". He told reporters the vessel was part of Russia's Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research (GUGI), which was designed to "undertake surveillance in peacetime and sabotage in conflict".

"It is part of a Russian fleet designed to put and hold our undersea infrastructure and those of our allies at risk," the defence secretary added. "That is why we've been determined, whenever the Yantar comes into British wider waters, we track it, we deter it and we say to Putin we are ready, and we do that alongside allies." The defence secretary previously issued a warning in January about the ship after it was spotted in UK waters. "We have military options ready should the Yantar change course. I am not going to reveal those because that only makes President Putin wiser," he said. Asked about the risks posed by lasers, Healey replied: "Anything that impedes, disrupts or puts at risk pilots in charge of British military planes is deeply dangerous." (BBC)