Iceland Tracking Russian Intelligence Ship After It Was Off Norway and UK
A Russian intelligence ship is making the rounds and being closely followed by the NATO allies, with Iceland becoming the latest member country that has reported monitoring the ship’s activities. On June 7, the government of Iceland announced that it was tracking the movements of Yuri Ivanov after the Russian naval ship was spotted within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), including in the waters between Iceland and Greenland, but operating outside the country’s territorial waters.
In recent weeks, Yuri Ivanov has drawn attention as it was monitoring NATO exercises in the North Atlantic. While Russian ships routinely monitor NATO exercises and operations, it still drew attention from the alliance. Two weeks ago, the 2015-commissioned ship was spotted near NATO’s Dynamic Mongoose 2026 exercise that took place in Norway. Slightly over a week after the UK’s Royal Navy activated its warships and helicopters to monitor Yuri Ivanov after she was sighted loitering in waters off the Outer Hebrides following the completion of NATO’s exercise Formidable Shield.
As one of two 95-meter (312-foot) surveillance vessels, Yuri Ivanov is equipped with antennae and electronics intended to provide intelligence-gathering, surveillance, electronic warfare, command and control, communications, fleet management, and signals intelligence capabilities tracking naval assets. It is also believed that it can perform air defense missile systems detection and tracking.
Owing to its intelligence-gathering activities, the Icelandic Coast Guard, in close coordination with the Defense Directorate of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and NATO Allied Command Operations, was monitoring the ship while sailing in the country’s EEZ.
According to the Icelandic government, Yuri Ivanov is believed to carry limited armament and is primarily tasked with intelligence gathering and surveillance. In a statement, they said there were no indications that the vessel posed a threat to subsea infrastructure or to the safety of maritime traffic.
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As part of the tracking mission, an Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter conducted a surveillance flight to the vessel and obtained photographs as she sailed West of Iceland. The ship’s movements continue to be monitored closely by the NATO Control and Reporting Centre in Keflavík.
Iceland in December last year reported an increase in activity of Russian shipping around the island. It spotted five fishing boats that were being tracked while concluding that the Russian boats were on trawling trips.