A Russian warship passed through the English Channel in disguise over the weekend, according to reports.

The corvette Boikiy, which has guided missiles and mounted machine guns, is said to have broadcast a fake ID signal as it travelled through the Channel on Saturday.

It is not the first time this year the warship has entered British waters after being tracked in March making its way through the Channel and North Sea.

This time, it reportedly travelled alongside two oil tankers, the Sierra and the Naxos, which are part of Russia’s shadow fleet, a network of tankers that transport sanctioned Russian oil using deceptive practices.

Using military ships as protection has been viewed as an attempt by Moscow to deter the UK and other Nato states from seizing shadow fleet vessels.

Last month, a Russian shadow Kilo-class submarine, Krasnodar, was detected in the Channel, forcing the Navy to deploy HMS Tyne to track it. That came just two weeks after HMS St Albans and HMS Mersey shadowed Russian vessels through the Channel in a separate incident.

At the same time, the number of Russian oil tankers passing through the Channel has almost doubled since London sanctioned Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine, according to data analysis by The Telegraph.