A RUSSIAN warship has been escorted past Brighton’s shoreline by the Royal Navy.

The HMS Severn, which has been spotted by readers off the city’s coast this week, shadowed the destroyer through the English Channel and into the North Sea.

Along with the HMS Tyne, she tracked the destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov, corvette Vasily Bykov and two support vessels as they headed north back to their home ports. 

The Royal Navy said the vessels intercepted the Russian ships on the edge of the UK's area of responsibility and tracked them until handing over monitoring duties to the Belgian navy.

Armed Forces Minister James Heappy said: “The Royal Navy’s Offshore Patrol Vessels are proving their worth with yet another successful operation in defence of our home waters.

“These highly capable ships and their crews are always on watch protecting our nation’s interests all year round.”

The successful operation involving the HMS Severn comes after she returned to operational status in July after the crew completed the three-week Operational Sea Training assessment.

The Argus:

HMS Severn near Brighton picture by @JasonReevePhoto (https://twitter.com/JasonReevePhoto)

The vessel was also spotted off the city’s coast in May as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations of VE Day. 

At the time, The Argus thanked HMS Severn on Twitter for stopping by, to which she replied: “It was a massive pleasure. We never expected such a warm response. #LoveBrighton #LoveHove”