The UK has warned of “robust action” after the Royal Navy tracked Russian spy ships in the English Channel just weeks after it claimed to have caught it “loitering over” critical undersea infrastructure in Britain’s waters.

Defence Secretary John Healey made a statement in Parliament on Wednesday to inform the House of Commons that the Royal Navy deployed HMS Somerset and HMS Tyne to monitor a vessel named ‘Yantar’ through UK waters.

The minister described the vessel as a "Russian spy ship" used for gathering intelligence and mapping the UK’s critical underwater infrastructure.

“I authorised a Royal Navy submarine – strictly as a deterrent measure – to surface close to ‘Yantar’ to make clear that we had been covertly monitoring its every move. The ship then left UK waters – without further loitering – and sailed down to the Mediterranean,” said Healey.

“And I also want President Putin to hear this message: We see you. We know what you are doing. And we will not shy away from robust action to protect this country,” he said.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reiterated the UK's leading role in countering the “growing Russian threat to offshore infrastructure in European seas”.

As part of ongoing work, the MoD said the Royal Air Force (RAF) will provide aircraft to a new North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) deployment designed to strengthen the protection of offshore infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.

The UK will also provide P-8 Poseidon and Rivet Joint maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft for the Baltic Sentry activity, which was announced following damage to the Estlink2 undersea cable between Estonia and Finland last month.

“We will continue to call out the malign activity that Putin directs, cracking down on the Russian shadow fleet to prevent funding for his illegal invasion of Ukraine,” added Healey.

According to the MoD, an advanced new AI-assisted computer system was activated for the first time last month to monitor key areas of interest, drawing on a range of data sources to assess the risk to infrastructure posed by different ships.

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