UK's Royal Navy monitors Russian warship sailing through English Channel

PHOTO CAPTION: Royal Navy frigate HMS Somerset follows, what the Royal Navy said, was the Russia's Boikiy warship escorting the merchant vessel Baltic Leader through UK waters, in this undated handout image. Royal Navy/Handout via REUTERS

LONDON (Reuters) -     Britain's Royal Navy said on Wednesday it monitored a Russian warship and merchant vessel this week on a voyage through the English Channel and North Sea.

HMS Somerset, which has conducted similar operations involving Russian vessels in the past, "watched every move" as Russia's Boikiy warship escorted the Baltic Leader through UK waters, the Royal Navy said.

Britain's navy routinely conducts shadowing missions to monitor any potential threats to national security, including to critical infrastructure such as undersea cables or pipelines.

HMS Somerset tracked the suspected Russian spy ship, Yantar, in January, while Royal Navy ships last month tracked six Russian naval and merchant ships carrying ammunition used in Syria through the Channel. 

Somerset began monitoring Boikiy on Saturday, as the Russian warship headed south through the North Sea and English Channel to meet Baltic Leader and escort the vessel - which came from Syria - back to Russia.

Britain's Times newspaper published pictures on Tuesday showing sailors manning machine guns on the Boikiy as it escorted the Baltic Leader, a vessel sanctioned by the U.S. for transporting weapons on behalf of the Russian military.

 (Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; editing by Sarah Young)