British retirees Jane and Alan Kelvey have urged calm after a Russian warship fired warning shots near their yacht in the English Channel, saying they do not want the incident to escalate into a major conflict. 'We don't want world war three to start because of this,' Jane Kelvey, 69, told the Guardian on Wednesday.
The couple, from Buckinghamshire, were sailing their yacht Bright Future from the south coast of England towards France on Tuesday when they came into close contact with the Admiral Grigorovich, a 409ft Russian frigate. Jane said the warship fired four or five warning shots that sounded like 'a whipcrack.'
Disputing Russia's Account
The Russian defence ministry claimed the yacht was on a 'dangerous approach' and that warning shots were fired after attempts to attract attention with signal flares and sound signals. Jane rejected this, stating they were not in danger and not about to collide. 'We were following our course... we could see them in the distance. We were in no danger,' she said.
She added that their yacht was using an automatic identification system (AIS), so the Russian vessel knew their location. 'They had plenty of opportunity to warn us off... They didn't fire flares, they didn't get on the radio to us, they just gave five blasts from their horn.'
Incident Details
Jane recounted that after five horn blasts, they changed course, but the warship fired another five blasts and then warning shots. They then steered 90 degrees to port to move away. 'We weren't in the way, we were not about to collide with them at all,' she insisted.
The couple contacted the UK Coastguard, and a boat from HMS Tyne was sent to check on their safety. The Ministry of Defence said the Russian vessel fired warning shots to prevent a possible collision about 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight, outside UK territorial waters.
Reaction and Support
Former colleagues praised the Kelveys, who retired in 2023 after running a sign-making business for 40 years. Daniel Murphy, the company's production manager, said: 'That's typical of them not to be too stressed about it... they have a stiff upper lip.' The couple had previously hosted Boris Johnson at their factory in 2022, the day before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Jane said the only reason she spoke to the press was the untruthfulness of the Russian statement. 'For us, until the shots were fired, it was just a nothing incident... what they said was just not true.' She added that they were the stand-on vessel with right of way but chose not to argue with a warship.
Looking ahead to their two-month sailing trip along the Brittany coast, Jane said: 'It's worth working hard to get to do this.'
