A Royal Navy destroyer has been tracking Russian vessels in the English Channel that are suspected of supplying munitions to Syria. Commander David Armstrong, Captain of HMS Iron Duke, says that although the ships do not pose a specific threat, "it is not enough for the UK just to hope that non-allied warships passing through our waters won't impact our national security". Report by Brooksl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00So today you've seen an activation of two of the Navy's fleet ready escorts,
00:06so ships that are held at very high readiness to respond to any potential threat
00:13that's perceived against the UK interest. We're a maritime nation, we depend on freedom of
00:23navigation and sea lines of communication, so in the last six months for context HMS Iron Dukes
00:28has been activated for similar tasks 13 times. So this is routine business for the Royal Navy
00:38and routine business for the Navy of a maritime nation such as the UK. So I think it's fair to
00:42say in the last five years the number of Russian vessels transiting through UK waters has increased.
00:49This task group that you can see, one of the warships over my shoulder,
00:54it's assessed that they don't, you know I assess they don't pose a specific threat to the UK,
00:58they're transporting kit and equipment as has been widely reported back from the Mediterranean
01:02to Russian ports in the Baltic, so they don't pose a specific threat. But it's not enough for
01:10the UK just to hope that non-allied warships passing through our waters won't impact our
01:16national security, the Royal Navy has to be here to make sure that they cannot interfere with our
01:20interests. You know this ship has 180 souls on board, you know give or take, including a number
01:26of visitors. So it is a team effort and it isn't just Iron Duke important to say, you know HMS Tyne
01:33our sister ship is a thousand yards astern of us, we have a French ship here with us on this
01:38particular operation, we've been overflown by French fast air, we have a Wildcat helicopter
01:45from 815 Naval Air Squadron and RFA Tyde Surge is some 20 miles astern of us escorting a number
01:53of other Russian vessels. So it is very much a whole force effort and not even just you know UK
01:59effort, we benefit very much from the collective security afforded to us by our steadfast commitment
02:06to NATO. I think that the message to the British public is it's important as a nation that we are
02:12not sea blind, you know we are so reliant on our ability to use sea lines of communication
02:19you know with freedom. Our economy depends on it without wishing to be too sensationalist,
02:25so that is the message for the British public that you know they should rest assured that the
02:29Royal Navy stands ready and if there is any threat to our interests, particularly close to home,
02:34the Royal Navy will be here.