Two Russian warships were intercepted in the English Channel by a UK patrol ship, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

HMS Severn intercepted the Russian corvette RFN Stoikiy and the tanker Yelnya as they sailed through the Dover Strait into the English Channel over the past fortnight. The patrol ship later handed over monitoring duties to an unidentified NATO ally off the coast of Brittany.

The MoD said Russian naval activity around UK waters has risen by 30 percent in the last two years. In addition to the ships operating near the UK coast, Britain has deployed three Poseidon surveillance aircraft to Iceland as part of a NATO mission monitoring Russian ships and submarines in the North Atlantic and Arctic, the MoD added.

It comes just days after Defence Secretary John Healey

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