HMS Mersey keeps a close eye on the dark spy ship Feodor Golovin, foreground, in the Channel Royal NavyA British patrol vessel and helicopter are tracking a Russian task group today as it passes through the Channel. The flotilla of two warships and a tanker are returning to base ports in the Baltic and Barents seas after supporting Russia’s bloody bombing offensive in Syria. HMS Mersey was diverted from a routine fishery protection patrol in British waters to spend the past 72 hours monitoring the warships, the Royal Navy said. It is the third such mission for the service in two months. The patrol boat, with a crew of 34, took over surveillance duties from the French Navy, which had kept an eye on the Russian spy ship Feodor Golovin, landing ship Alexander Ostrakovsky and the tanker Yelnya as they passed through the…

Source: The Times February 22, 2018 17:03 UTC