The UK is exploring military options if a Russian spy ship sails closer to British shores after its crew used a laser to target RAF pilots monitoring its progress.

Defence Secretary John Healey said the UK was ready to respond if the ship heads south from its current position north of Scotland.

The frigate HMS Somerset and RAF P-8 Poseidon aircraft have been keeping watch on the Yantar, which is designed for gathering intelligence and mapping crucial undersea cables, after it entered wider UK waters this month.

Mr Healey said the frigate and planes had been deployed to “track this vessel’s every move, during which the Yantar directed lasers at our pilots”.

“That Russian action is deeply dangerous.”

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper , in Berlin for a meeting with her German count

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