The Dutch Navy tracked two Russian warships in the Dutch part of the North Sea on Friday, the Ministry of Defense reported in a press release. It concerns a submarine named Novorossiysk and a corvette, a small warship named Boikiy. The ships passed through the so-called Dutch Exclusive Zone (EEZ), Defense reports.
Submarine Novorossiysk was heading north from the Mediterranean Sea when the corvette joined the boat. This is not exceptional: within the EEZ, internationally agreed law applies that (Russian) ships are allowed to sail through it and this therefore happens more often. Nevertheless, Defense decided to shadow the vessels, a spokesperson told NOS that Defense had been working on this all day.
The patrol ship Zr.Ms. Friesland and the NH90 combat helicopter were deployed for this purpose. “This is to emphasize vigilance and to collect information,” Defense writes on its website. “We want to make our presence known, show that we have them in our sights,” the spokesperson told NOS. The crew of the NH90 took a photo of the Russian submarine, among other things. This has been published on the Defense website.
Shadowing ships of countries that are not members of NATO is one of them fixed and formal tasks of the Navy and is part of the larger role that Defense has been playing in protecting the North Sea since July 2023. For example, Defense previously shadowed the Russian ship Admiral Vladimirsky – officially a research vessel, but regularly associated with espionage.