Earlier this week, the four-ship naval task group had been spotted near the coast of Scotland en

route to the Mediterranean. The Royal Navy scrambled its HMS ‘Defender’ to shadow the 4,500-
ton guided missile frigate.

A navy spokesman told the Times that the ‘Defender,’ a Portsmouth-based Type 45 destroyer,
was “monitoring the Russian task group and keeping track of their activity in areas of national
interest.”

The reserved statement didn’t play well with Scottish politicians, however, who said they felt
defenseless as a result of Russia’s maritime deployments. “The UK’s Ministry of Defence is
failing Scotland, allowing Russian navy vessels sailing through our territorial waters at will to
conduct provocative drills like this,” SNP Defence spokesperson Stewart McDonald argued.

All Royal Navy warships vessels are based on the Channel coast, and it takes too long for them
to arrive in Scottish waters in the event of an emergency, he complained.

That aside, UK media tried to seize the opportunity to fan the “Russia scare.” The Times, for
instance, said that at least one of the ‘Admiral Gorshkov’-class frigates is reported to have been
fitted with the Filin 5P-42 weapon, a “visual optical interference” device

The secretive weapon is believed to cause “dizziness, nausea and feelings of disorientation”
among enemy personnel, the paper suggested. The non-lethal device is believed to have been
installed on Gorshkov-type frigates, but there are no verifiable reports that it was used in
situations other than sea trials.

The Royal Navy tried to calm fears, saying that the Russian ships had stopped off the Scottish
coast to seek shelter during a storm. They continued on their journey once conditions cleared, a
Navy source said. “They were waiting out the weather. Anyone who says they were trying to
agitate is pushing fake news,” he stated.