Britain said on Thursday it had deployed a destroyer to track a Russian aircraft carrier sailing close to its coastal waters, the latest in a series of such incidents and a reminder of underlying tensions between London and Moscow.

A spokesman from Britain’s Ministry of Defense said HMS Dragon had been “activated” on Wednesday in response to the approach of a Russian task force including the Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s only aircraft carrier. . . .

HMS Dragon, a modern air-Defense destroyer, was deployed in similar circumstances just last month to shadow another Russian warship, the Vice-Admiral Kulakov, as it sailed past Britain.

Image: HMS Dragon exercising in the English Channel, August 30, 2011 (photo: UK Ministry of Defense)