The Kremlin is suspected of deploying the vessel to stalk the seabed, gathering intelligence that could be used in acts of sabotage.
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00:00What do we know about the Russian spy ship seen in European waters?
00:08A Russian vessel was pursued by British warships when it sailed through the English Channel
00:13last week.
00:15This is what the UK defence minister said.
00:17Let me be clear.
00:20This is a Russian spy ship used for gathering intelligence and mapping the UK's critical
00:28underwater infrastructure.
00:30The ship, known as Yantar, on paper only carries out oceanographic research, but it belongs
00:37to Moscow's defence ministry and Western officials believe it's mainly used for deep-sea espionage.
00:43Last week, Yantar was first detected around 83km off the British coast.
00:49We tracked her movements over the following days and found she had sailed through the
00:53English Channel before continuing towards the Kattegat Strait between Denmark and Sweden,
00:58suggesting she was heading back to base in St. Petersburg.
01:01This is not unusual.
01:03Russian ships commonly use this route to head back to their base and the ship didn't break
01:08any international rules.
01:10But it is believed that Yantar could be mapping critical undersea infrastructure such as communications
01:16cables and gas pipelines.
01:19Gas pipelines have recently been severed in suspected acts of sabotage.
01:23Yantar is well-equipped to map undersea infrastructure.
01:26It can hover over a specific location.
01:29On board, it has human-carrying submarines that can reach 6,000m below water.
01:35There are also deep-sea robots tethered to the ship that can deposit or retrieve objects
01:40from the seabed.
01:41Naval experts told us that the ship is well-known to European authorities, but the UK's firm
01:46response suggests governments are increasingly nervous about Yantar's operations and the
01:52potential that the intelligence it gathers could be used in future acts of sabotage.