Russia warship fires warning shot at British couple – The Latest

Nosheen Iqbal· Host0:00

This is the Guardian.

Dan Sabbagh· Guest0:01

This is a kind of accident or an incident waiting to happen. Retired couple, I think on a day out, shots were fired, and at that point they suddenly realized that they'd had a major problem. Russia's really stepped up its presence over the last few months. They have their transponders off and if you get too close, you know, th-they won't play nicely. It's certainly reckless behavior. Warning shots should be your sort of, you know, your last option. But it comes at this time of kind of heightened tension between Britain and Russia.

Nosheen Iqbal· Host0:34

On The Guardian's Today in Focus, this is The Latest with me, Nosheen Iqbal. Dan Sabbagh, you're The Guardian's defense and security editor. On Tuesday we saw quite an interesting incident at sea. A Russian warship firing warning shots within a few hundred meters of a British yacht with quite an unlikely presence on board, a retired couple who are out on their holidays, I think. Now, the Russians claim the yacht was on a dangerous course towards their ship, and that they made several attempts to contact it. The couple say that this didn't happen. What on earth is going on?

Dan Sabbagh· Guest1:13

Well, [laughs] it's an extraordinary story, isn't it? You know, you've got a, a, you know, as you say, it's a retired couple, I think on a day out. They, they're taking their yacht from L-L-Lymington on the South Coast down to, down to Cherbourg. Uh, and what... I don't think they expected to find it because, uh, uh, Russian warships don't turn their