Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many incursions into the UK's Exclusive Economic Zone have been made by ships of the Russian Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research during the past two years.

Defence does not routinely record and archive the number of entries by foreign vessels into the UK's Exclusive Economic Zone. The number of instances that the Royal Navy is employed to escort a foreign vessel is, however, recorded. In 2021 the Royal Navy escorted 66 Russian warships through UK waters; 41 such warships were escorted in 2022. During the same period the Royal Navy also located and tracked several Russian submarines in the UK's marine area to guard against intrusion into UK sensitive waters.