A Russian oceanographic vessel crossed the Strait of Pas-de-Calais on Tuesday.
Called "Yantar", this military building is suspected of collecting intelligence.
The French Navy escorted the "Yantar" out of French territorial waters.
The eye of Moscow.
This Wednesday, among the dozens of boats that crossed the Strait of Pas-de-Calais, one particularly caught the attention of the French authorities.
This is the “Yantar”, a Russian military building, we learned from the maritime prefecture, confirming information from
La Voix du Nord
.
"The Yantar ship flying the Russian flag passed through the Pas-de-Calais DST during the day, heading for the Baltic Sea", confirmed to
20 minutes
the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea (PREMAR) .
Except that it is not a simple cargo ship but a ship belonging to the Russian military fleet.
It is officially referred to as an “oceanographic vessel”, but it is also renowned for collecting intelligence.
In other words, to spy.
A "vessel of interest" escorted by the French Navy
This is not how the French authorities qualify the “Yantar”. In diplomatic parlance, the Premar calls this a “vessel of interest”. An interest which has earned the Russian vessel to be escorted out of French waters by a military patroller on alert to ensure that it "achieves an innocuous passage". At the time of writing, the spy ship is "off the coast of Belgium" heading for the Baltic Sea.
In mid-August, it is this same boat which had been spotted off Ireland, in a sensitive area where submarine telecommunications cables are located, revealed the British daily
Times
.
Still according to our colleagues from across the Channel, the Yantar is equipped with very specialized intelligence equipment, in particular a mini submarine capable of diving to a depth of 6,000 m.
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