Russian fleet in Moray Firth alert

THE scrapping of the Kinloss-based Nimrod fleet was described as “folly” after a Russian aircraft carrier was this week spotted just miles from the Moray coast.

Local MP Angus Robertson, the SNP’s leader in Westminster and defence spokesman, was speaking following reports that the Admiral Kuznetsov was moored just 20 to 30 miles out to sea.

A Royal Navy destroyer, HMS York, was deployed from Portsmouth to keep watch on the Kuznetsov and other ships in the fleet.

On Tuesday, York was shadowing the 60,000-tonne Russian carrier and its escort vessels, which had been sheltering in the Moray Firth from bad weather and extreme conditions further out to sea.

The Russian boats were believed to be on their way to the Mediterranean, from their northern base at Severomorsk, for exercises with the Russian Black Sea fleet.

While the Ministry of Defence would have previously considered scrambling Nimrod maritime patrol planes from RAF Kinloss, because the base and aircraft were scrapped in cutbacks, it instead sent HMS York on a 1,000-mile journey from the south of England.

“The presence of the Russian naval vessels seeking shelter in the Moray Firth is clearly understandable, given the recent horrendous weather,” Mr Robertson told ‘The Northern Scot’ yesterday.

“However, it is very obviously in the interests of any country to monitor such military activity close to their shores, however legitimate or necessary it may be.

See Friday's Northern Scot for full story.