Ship belongs to Russian programme for ‘research into critical underwater infrastructure’
Portugal’s Air Force has detected yet another Russian spyship in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
According to a statement by the Air Force, the vessel belongs to the Russian programme for research into critical underwater infrastructure’ and is capable of operating submersible vehicles for marine exploration at great depths.
It was spotted by a regular Air Force patrol of Portugal’s ‘skies’, and accompanied thereafter until it left territorial jurisdiction.
This time the ship has not been named, but it is another of the dozens that have passed through territorial waters with increasing frequency since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
By ‘critical underwater infrastructure’, the Air Force means underwater cabling, which is always the concern of authorities when Russian ships appear, unannounced, and frequently are then seen to go through bizarre/ repetitive manoeuvres.
The Air Force adds that the operation yesterday “reinforces surveillance of the strategic space of national interest, guaranteeing a constant and attentive presence to movements in the area of national interest and contributing to the security and protection of the waters under Portuguese responsibility”.
In 2024, Air Force F-16M planes flew more than 1,000 hours of air policing. Their message over social media this afternoon: “We Protect by Flying! Every day of the year!”
UPDATE MONDAY: Reports today have identified the Russian vessel as the Yantar, a well-known spyship that has been “loitering” off a number of European coastlines since last year, with the brief of “detecting and mapping NATO submarine infrastructure, like cables, in the Baltic and the North Sea (where it is currently headed). Yantar’s mini-submarines (remote or operated by three men, according to Correio da Manhã today) have the capacity to sabotage undersea cables.
Once spotted by the Air Force, the ship was accompanied through Portuguese waters by Naval frigate D. Francisco de Almeida, and the Setúbal patrol boat.
