Russian ships in the Moray Firth ... and not a Nimrod in sight

A RUSSIAN navy battlegroup anchored on the edge of the Moray Firth, perhaps doing things it shouldn’t be in another country’s waters, may bring back memories of the Cold War.

But – after recent of defence cuts – the British armed forces of 2011 had to rely on a Type 42 destroyer chugging its way from Portsmouth rather than speedy aerial reconnaissance to check out the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and the bags of waste its sailors were heaving into the sea.

As opposition politicians were quick to point out yesterday, until a few years ago a Nimrod aircraft would have been scrambled from RAF Kinloss in Moray and within seconds been getting a good look at the Russians.

But with the cancellation of the new Nimrods and closure of Kinloss in the strategic defence and security review (SDSR) that option was no longer available.

Meanwhile, another constitutional row was brewing behind the scenes, with suggestions that a decision had been made not to pass on information from the National Marine Information Centre (Nimic) to the Scottish Government about waste being dumped in Scottish waters.

As reported in yesterday’s Scotsman, it is thought the Russian flotilla, which includes the 65,000-ton Admiral Kuznetsov, other warships and support vessels, was sheltering from bad weather further out to sea.

The ships are believed to have been on their way to conduct exercises in the Mediterranean. It is understood the vessels are no longer at anchor in the North Sea but are remaining in the area to avoid severe weather.

SNP defence spokesman Angus Robertson MP suggested the MoD was forced to send the destroyer up from the south of England because the scrapping of the Nimrod fleet meant Britain no longer had maritime patrol aircraft to monitor foreign vessels.

He also claimed the Russian aircraft carrier had been dumping waste. The MP accused the crew of “marine fly-tipping” and is asking the UK government questions about what it has done about the alleged incident.

Mr Robertson, his party’s leader at Westminster, said: “Given the bad weather conditions the Russian vessels are very welcome to shelter off the Scottish coast, but it is more than bad manners to dispose of waste by simply throwing it overboard.

“This is in contravention of agreements and I think we need answers from the Russian and UK governments. What was disposed of? Why was it not done properly?”

A Royal Navy spokesman said Russia was “almost certainly” acting in accordance with international rules.

He said: “Russia is signed up to the International Maritime Organisation’s maritime pollution rules, of which they are very strict followers. If they are doing it, it’s most likely going to be low-level food waste.”

On the presence of the Russian ships off the Scottish coast, an MoD spokesman said: “The Royal Navy’s Type 42 destroyer HMS York, based in Portsmouth, met with the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov in international waters.

“The carrier anchored outside British territorial waters some 30 miles off the Moray Firth, where she was thought to have taken advantage of the relative shelter to avoid the worst of current bad weather in the North Sea.”

He added: “This incident shows that our systems work.”