The Ministry of Defence said the Admiral Grigorovich fired warning shots after attempting to contact the British yacht in the channel.
Sailors on a drifting Russian warship fired several warning shots at a British-registered yacht in the English Channel to “prevent a possible collision”, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.
The incident involving the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich and a 12-metre-long sailing yacht called the Bright Future happened about 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight, outside the UK’s territorial waters.
There were no injuries and the yacht was not damaged.
An MoD spokesperson said: “Following attempts to contact a British vessel in the Channel, the Grigorovich fired warning shots.
“These were not aimed at the vessel and were an attempt to prevent a possible collision.”
The warship had been drifting rather than being manoeuvred under power, it is understood.
Russian warships passing through the English Channel are routinely shadowed by the Royal Navy, with offshore patrol vessel HMS Mersey monitoring the Admiral Grigorovich at the time of the incident on Tuesday.
A boat from HMS Tyne, another patrol vessel, was sent to the yacht to gather details and check on the safety of the crew.
The MoD spokesperson added: “We assess that this is an isolated incident and not linked to the UK’s interception of the Smyrtos this weekend.”
Admiral Grigorovich is understood to have sounded warnings before firing the warning shots, which were not aimed at the yacht.
A translation of a statement posted on the Telegram channel for the Russian defence ministry said the yacht had been on a “dangerous approach” and the warning shots were fired after attempting to draw the attention of the yacht’s crew through signal flares and sound signals.
It said the Russian sailors had acted “in strict accordance” with international shipping regulations.
The Russian statement identified the vessel involved as the Bright Future – a 12-metre-long sailing yacht which was en route to Cherbourg, France.
Martin Kelly, head of advisory at crisis management firm EOS Risk Group, said people should be “careful” not to link the incident with the seizure of Russian tanker Smyrtos by the UK two days ago.
He told the Press Association: “Warships, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, are entitled to self-defence.
“If a ship, yacht, etc is approaching, the rules of force escalation will start with a VHF (very high frequency radio) warning, and if there is no response the next escalation is a more intense warning, and then up to warning shots, which is where we got to here.”
He added: “This kind of thing does happen everywhere all of the time, I honestly don’t think there’s a link here.
“If Russia was going to respond then they would do so against, probably, a commercial ship.”
Sidharth Kaushal, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) think tank, said: “While warning shots are not unheard of, they are a last resort when a vessel is behaving in a threatening way.
“There is no indication that the yacht in question had done anything to present a threat to the Russian frigate – though, of course, much is still unknown.
“It seems, since this is irregular behaviour, like the Russians are trying to indicate that the vessels they dispatch can do more than protect their own shipping and will also be a disruptive presence in and around the UK.
“This would seem to be a way of disincentivising further interdictions.”
The seizure of the Smyrtos on Sunday was the first such action by British forces, although the UK had previously helped allies targeting sanctioned tankers.
The captain of the tanker, which was carrying 98,000 tonnes of oil, appeared in court on Tuesday charged with breaching sanctions.
Indian national Ajay Pant has been charged with directly or indirectly supplying or delivering by ship prohibited oil or oil products from Russia to a third country in June 2026, in contravention of Regulation 46Z9B of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.
The 38-year-old appeared at Southampton Magistrates’ Court by videolink from Bournemouth police station for a preliminary hearing, during which he spoke to confirm his name and date of birth and gave his address as being in India.
