Russophobic tosh the media will run forever until war starts
Fri 7:23 pm +00:00, 19 Jun 2026A Russian warship which fired warning shots at British pensioners last week has returned to the English Channel.
The Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich was observed guiding a sanctioned shadow fleet oil tanker yesterday, just two days after the same warship launched warning shots towards a British couple’s yacht.
The incident occurred, roughly 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight, between the island and Normandy and outside UK territorial waters.
HMS Mersey was monitoring the Admiral Grigorovich at the time.
It was the first passage of a shadow fleet vessel through the Strait of Dover since Royal Marines boarded the tanker Smyrtos on Sunday.
The retired couple who own the sailing yacht told GB News that they “didn’t do anything wrong”, after the Russians accused them of being on a “dangerous course” with their warship.
The Kelveys told GB News the Russians fired four or five shots into the air at 11.01am.
Alan and Jane explained: “We were not on a collision course in any way, shape or form… we didn’t do anything wrong.”
They added: “We followed all the collision regulations… the closest we got to them was 500m… and as soon as we heard the gun shots, we put our engine on.”
The warship neither transmitted its position nor emitted the required foghorn signals to warn nearby vessels, unlike British and Nato ships navigating the same busy shipping lane.
Admiral Grigorovich was escorting a Russian-flagged tanker, The Forwarder, which departed from Primorsk last week and entered the Channel on Wednesday evening before heading south, with its destination logged as Dongying in China.
Britain, the United States and the European Union all imposed sanctions on the vessel in 2025, and it has since operated under two different names.
The British Government alleges the tanker has been transporting Russian oil illicitly and forms part of a network comprising hundreds of shadow fleet ships funding Moscow’s military operations.
Since the Smyrtos interception, every UK-sanctioned oil tanker has rerouted to avoid the Channel entirely.
HMS Tyne, a Royal Navy patrol vessel, trailed both Russian ships at approximately one nautical mile distance, broadcasting its position publicly via automatic identification systems.
Old British Couple Hired To Start WW3. Russia did not fire even one shot at troublesome yacht.
Edit Thu 10:16 pm +00:00, 18 Jun 2026
posted by Tapestry
TAP – The repeated lie that a Russian warship fired shots at a 40 foot British yacht in the English Channel has gone global.
Here is the typical repeat of the lie that can be found worldwide in the legacy media, and some add-ons such as criticising the Russians for refuelling the ship, as if the British and all other Navies doesn’t do similar things with ships at sea. This is war-hungry banker reporting from a media being paid to stir up trouble where none exists.
The Russian warship that fired shots at a British yacht carried out multiple “dangerous” refuelling missions in the English Channel after almost running out of fuel.
The Admiral Grigorovich, which has been used by Vladimir Putin to protect his shadow fleet of oil tankers passing the UK, has been forced to conserve fuel after running low on supplies.
On Tuesday, the frigate fired shots at a retired British couple as they sailed their yacht through the waterway. It is thought the Grigorovich was drifting without power to save fuel, and had been unable to dodge the 40ft pleasure boat as a result.
The Telegraph can reveal that the frigate has been forced to go “hull-to-hull” with a Russian Amur-class repair ship in the Channel to refuel on numerous occasions, in a move described as “extremely dangerous”.
The vessels, both more than 400ft in length, effectively collide with one another at sea while crews scramble to transfer fuel.
Experts said the manoeuvre, in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, could put civilian ships at risk should something go wrong.
Admiral Lord West, a former head of the Navy, said: “It’s a bloody stupid thing to do – if you get a sea state or poor weather, you could bash against each other and rip holes in the hull.”
A defence source monitoring the Russian frigate told The Telegraph that the Amur-class repair ship had been seen “going back and forth between Russia and the Grigorovich, resupplying and refuelling”, and had been spotted this week.
“The way in which that Amur ship has been doing it is hull-to-hull replenishment in the English Channel, which is incredibly dangerous,” the source added.
The 10-year-old Grigorovich is the first in a class of frigates equipped with a 100mm gun that can fire 80 rounds a minute at a range of more than 12 miles. The frigate also has eight vertical launch cells for Kalibr or Oniks cruise missiles.
Phil Ingram, a former colonel in British military intelligence, warned that the method of refuelling carried huge risks if something went wrong, given Grigorovich’s vast weapons cache.
“Refuelling like this is extremely dangerous and could have huge consequences,” he said.
“The fact one of Russia’s most powerful warships is having to refuel like this reflects the state the fleet is in. It shows the Russian fleet is not as blue water-capable as they’d like to think they are.”
HMS Mersey (foreground) monitoring the Admiral Grigorovich in the Channel earlier this year – Royal Navy/MoD
The method differs significantly from those carried out by Western navies such as the UK and US, which use tankers to refuel vessels while sailing alongside one another at a safe distance.
The manoeuvre is known as a replenishment at sea – or RAS – and involves passing a fuel line between the two vessels.
On Thursday, the Grigorovich was seen protecting the first oil tanker to transit the Strait of Dover since Royal Marines stormed the Smyrtos, another sanctioned Russian tanker, on Sunday.
The frigate was defending the Forwarder, a Russian-flagged ship that set sail from the port in Primorsk last week and entered the Channel on Wednesday evening en route to Dongying in China.
The vessel was sanctioned by the UK, the US and the EU last year and has changed its name twice. The British Government accused it of smuggling oil from Russia and being among a network of around 700 so-called shadow fleet vessels fuelling Russia’s war machine.
HMS Tyne, a Royal Navy patrol ship, shadowed the Russian flotilla on Thursday as it cruised past the south coast unchallenged, defence sources confirmed.
A trio of other tankers also sailed through the English Channel on Thursday, having set off from Russian ports.
The vessels, which are not on the sanctions list, include the Palau-flagged Visund, which left the Russian port of Ust-luga, near the Estonian border, en route to the Suez Canal, the Aequora Fortune, which was sailing to Aliaga in Turkey, having left Primorsk in Russia earlier this month, and the Hellas Calafia, which left Ust-luga bound for Canakkale, Turkey.
The Telegraph previously identified the Grigorovich as she protected a group of other Russian ships crossing the Channel in April. She was followed by RFA Tideforce, a 39,000-ton Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker built to support the Navy’s two aircraft carriers.
In March, Sir Keir Starmer gave permission for the UK military to storm sanctioned Russian ships. However, it took about three months for Britain to seize the first outlawed tanker.
www.msn.com
TAP BLOG ANALYSIS OF THE FAKE NEWS REPORT
Joke narrative gets worldwide billing
17 Jun 2026
posted by Tapestry
Jane and Alan Kelvey said the Admiral Grigorovich did not communicate via radio.
TAP Who are they?
Company directors of a non-trading dormant company called Safety Signs which despite being dormant moved its address to Northwood in recent years, premises costing about £5,000 a year.
They claim –
A Russian warship fired shots at an unarmed yacht crewed by two British retirees in the English Channel in a fresh escalation of tensions with Moscow.
TAP – This has gotta be a joke surely. Well. Yes. The Daily Telegraph has become such.
The 40ft British-flagged vessel called Bright Future, owned by Jane and Alan Kelvey, reported on Tuesday morning that the Admiral Grigorovich, a 409ft-long Russian frigate, had fired warning shots at around 11.40am.
The incident comes after the Smyrtos, a shadow tanker carrying sanctioned Russian oil, was boarded and seized by Royal Marines in the Channel over the weekend.
The Russian defence ministry said Mr and Mrs Kelvey’s yacht was following a “dangerous course” and that one of its ships had made “several attempts” to contact it by firing flares and sound signals at the vessel.
TAP – Sounds like a serious international incident to me worth worldwide news coverage.
But the Kelveys disputed that claim on Tuesday night, saying that they “didn’t do anything wrong” and that allegations they were on a “collision course” were “simply not true”.
TAP – Yes. Russian warships are very keen to get into discussion with bored retirees on a tiny boat
The British-flagged Bright Future came within 150 metres of the Russian frigate
The retirees, aged 68 and 70, had set off from Lymington, Hampshire, at 4am Tuesday and were headed for the French port city of Cherbourg. They were sailing in the Channel, about 20 nautical miles south off the Isle of Wight, when gunshots rang out.
TAP – 4am departure? Couldn’t sleep, I suppose. Only twenty miles south of the Isle oF Wight after eight hours sailing? They took a long time to get there, if they really wanted to reach Cherbourg. Maybe they wanted to carry out a rendez-vous en route to La Belle France with an idling Russian warship, sent there to stop the British Navy from committing acts of piracy by seizing Russian oil tankers…..
Military sources told The Telegraph that the incident took place outside UK territorial waters during foggy conditions, and that the Russian vessel had issued several warnings before firing.
TAP – Military sources? Where were they hiding? A submarine?
Related video: Russian warship fires warning shots at UK yacht in Channel (France 24)
The Kelveys said visibility had been “reasonable” and that they had spotted the larger vessel ahead before making a plan to pass the ship on its starboard side with a berth of 500 metres.
They said the warship then sounded its horn five times, so they changed course by two degrees in an attempt to increase the distance between them.
TAP – A change of course of two degrees? That would not be perceptible, or sufficient. Whatever manoeuvre Bright Future made (if any) took the yacht within 150 metres of Admiral Grigorovich in fog. That is seriously close. The fools changed course not away from but into the path of the Russian ship – they even say ‘in an attempt to’ increase the distance – suggesting the attempt went wrong, or was deliberately miscalculated. They said the ship lay ‘ahead’. They were sailing straight towards it. That means both vessels moving approximately in the same direction.
Mrs Kelvey told the BBC the Russians “didn’t send up any flares, they didn’t try to radio us” and that “it wasn’t an incident until the gunfire started”.
“They didn’t look to us like they were adrift and we were definitely not on a collision course,” she said.
TAP – Very odd statement. Why would a ship be adrift? Did the Kelveys take a series of bearings on the Admiral Grigorovich? If so what were the bearings taken? If not on a collision course, why did the Kelveys change course by their claimed two degrees – which apparently only took them closer.
If the ship was ‘ahead’ as described, going east to west (or west to east), it was already past, if it was moving albeit slowly. If it was, as they say, dead ahead but not on an east to west axis, it was travelling either towards or away from the Kelveys. Passing the ship to her starboard side suggests it was in fact travelling in the same direction albeit very slowly, and the yacht was overtaking the ship at very close range. Two vessels approaching each other head on, have to pass red to red, or port to port, under the Rules Of The Sea. You can only pass red to green when overtaking a vessel, that lies dead ahead.
“There was absolutely no problem as far as we were concerned,’ says Mrs Kelvey. ‘We were just going to go sailing straight past them … as soon as they sent the five blasts on the horn, we took [evasive action], not that any was necessary, but then they did the following five and and then the gunfire.
“They’re blaming us and as far as we’re concerned, we were blameless.”
The couple added that they did not know Admiral Grigorovich was a military vessel because it was not broadcasting its GPS location.
Defence sources said the Grigorovich appeared to be drifting rather than acting under its own power at the time, and perhaps felt more vulnerable because it had less ability to manoeuvre.
TAP – Defence sources? Where were they located? More likely travelling at very slow speed than adrift, if on a patrol, and the yacht was therefore travelling faster than the frigate. How the Eff couldn’t they tell it was a military vessel, though? You’d only need to look at it for three seconds to know for absolute certainty.
They added that the frigate had issued several preliminary warning sounds before firing warning shots. It is understood that the shots were single shots rather than automatic gunfire. Mrs Kelver claimed the shots were fired at her.
TAP – bullshit
Military sources played down the encounter as a “nautical incident” rather than escalatory behaviour by Russia, suggesting that the fault lay with the pleasure boat.
They stressed that issuing warning shots was standard procedure for warships feeling vulnerable to a risk of collision.
….
TAP – Just plain bloody common sense from Russia. Tiresome British couple for Northwood with Ministry of Defence connections who somehow know every detail of what happened. Or claim to.
Responding to the incident in the Channel, James Cartlidge MP, the shadow defence secretary, said: “This shows, yet again, that Russia poses a direct threat to our nation, and underlines why it is critical for Labour to get a grip on defence after the chaos of their ministerial resignations last week.
TAP – No. It doesn’t. Idiot.
The Kelveys, who have written several blog posts about their travels, restored the boat in 2024 when Mr Kelvey wrote that they were now “ready to go” because they had retired.
When they began detailing their travels, they wrote: “We found Bright Future nesting unloved at the back of MDL’s Chatham Marina in the Medway river opposite the historic Upnor Castle.
“Bright Future had been abandoned like the Marie Celeste, with unmade beds, a fridge (not working) full of rusting beer cans and items of clothing left in lockers and strewn around.”
TAP – Bit Odd don’t you think….and not very likely. Practised bullshit merchants by the sound. They were given the yacht by the MOD or similar a bit more likely I would suggest. All the gear and no idea.
After the incident in the Channel the Kelveys called the UK Coastguard, who then informed the Navy. They were interviewed by French police on arrival in Cherbourg at around 5pm on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) 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.
(TAP – Do the navy believe everything they are told by Mr and Mrs types on private yachts who write crazy blog posts?, and turned their boat towards, and not away from a Russian warship when alerted…)
“We assess that this is an isolated incident and not linked to the UK’s interception of the Smyrtos this weekend. HMS Mersey has been monitoring the Russian vessel and support has been provided to the crew of the yacht.”
The Grigorovich, one of Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea fleet ships, has been near British waters for some weeks. The vessel has been observed escorting shadow oil tankers and loitering near a wind farm off the Suffolk coast.
Two Royal Navy River-class offshore patrol vessels, HMS Mersey and HMS Tyne, followed the ship through the Channel on Monday afternoon.
Tan Dhesi, the chairman of the Commons defence committee, said that while the incident in the Channel was still under investigation, it was clear that “the UK finds itself in a deeply dangerous world”.
TAP – What a joke. The UK wants to carry out acts of piracy on the high seas against Russia. It’s completely shocking that Russia has ships available to try to stop the crimes being committed. The Royal Navy on the other hand has about five ships left.
He added: “Evidently, we need to move much faster, including by increasing defence spending.”
TAP – Do the government and the media think we are complete idiots? Don’t answer that.
The boat Bright Future has a Union Jack (Zionist) spinnaker, and the apparent owners of this very expensive 40 foot yacht come from Northwood where UK military command happens to be located, and where they run a non-trading business from tiny premises. All very odd if you ask me. Who pays for the yacht? There will only be a bright future for the defence industry if a war gets going. I smell an operation. It stands out a mile. A massive leg pull and lovely jolly carried out on MOD expense accounts for pulling a naval Russia-baiting stunt. Don’t be fooled please. That Union Jack spinnaker’s a dead giveaway.
Telegraph
In the video Jane Kelvey says they turned two degrees to port i.e. nothing after ten clear blasts meaning ‘watch out’.
They claim they passed the Admiral Grigorovich on her starboard side.
They claim they were overtaking the vessel on her starboard side, and turning to port would take them closer not further away.
This might have puzzled and concerned the Russian ship which went on to fire warning shots.
The story she gives is that they turned 90 degrees away only after the shots were fired.
Obviously running on the engine, not with sail (or possibly both). They could easily manoeuvre and change course by 90 degrees if on the engine. With sail alone, which she claims she was under, a 90 degree turn might have been tricky to pull off in an instant.
She then claims they shot ‘at’ them. That is not true.
She says ‘it wasn’t foggy’, as claimed by Defence Sources spinning a yearn.
She admits that they came close to the Russian vessel deliberately.
Why would anyone do that unless they had a purpose for doing so?
We left The Needles at 5am. He says. And held the same course ever since then until the incident.
So how the hell did they only get 20 miles south of the Isle Of Wight by 11.40 am?
Very slow progress for a 40 footer. It doesn’t take twenty hours to ge to Cherourg.
How would they explain this?
Cringingly self important report.
If the Russian ship wasn’t moving, according to this report, she somehow was holding direction, which requires some rudder and engine. The Kelveys sailed deliberately close by their own admission, and received a suitable warning.
If they had turned two degrees to port as they say they did, they would have moved closer to the Russian vessel’s starboard side, not further away. The Russians then let off warning shots which would be a sensible thing to do, given the retirees made no reaction to the ten warning blasts.
Then she uses the phrase ‘shot at us’. Not true.
The whole thing seems like a deliberate provocation of an idling ship. And a media stunt, no dout ordered up by Naval Intelligence (Or the lack of).
As for Mrs Kelvey, someone needs to tell her that warships do occasionally need to move, sometimes pdq. The Russian navy clearly does not have her mobile number. She should send it to Mr Putin so, next time, they know who they are dealing with.
