Intelligence ship Admiral Feodor Golovin – along with two other vessels – will sail past Britain as they return home from missions in the Mediterranean.

The vessels will sail past the UK as they return to the home port of the Northern Fleet in Severomorsk.

Royal Navy vessels are expected to intercept them, escorting the trio until they are clear of the Channel.

Russia’s ships yesterday passed through the Gibraltar strait under the watchful eye of the Portuguese corvette NRP Antonio Enes.

Putin’s vessels passage comes amid heightened tensions between Britain and Russia as defence bosses warned we are entering a “new type of war”.

Admiral Feodor Golovin is a Vishya class intelligence vessel weighing in at 3,500 tons and carrying high-tech monitoring equipment.

Russia has been sending spyships into the Med since it entered the war in Syria back in 2015.

It will be accompanied by Aleksandr Otrakovskiy, a 4,000 ton roll-on roll-off landing ship designed for beach invasions, and Yelnya, a refuelling tanker.

The ships are expected to reach the English Channel before the end of the week – and then continue their journey to Russia.

Royal Navy and RAF assets regularly deploy to intercept and escort Russian vessels whenever they enter the English Channel.

Last month, Russian spyship Viktor Leonov was spotted off the East Coast of the US – prompting a swoop by the US Navy.

The ship usually operates for around two months near the US as a part of a six-month deployment.

Relations are frosty between Russia and Britain amid wider tensions between Putin and the West over alleged election interference, NATO buildup in the Baltic, the war in Syria, and the annexation of Crimea.

Britain has sent troops to Estonia where they have been carrying out cold weather drills just 80 miles from the border with Russia.

Defence secretary Gavin Williamson warned Putin intends to do the UK harm as the two powers enter a "new type of warfare".

These comments were rubbished by the Kremlin.

Mr Williamson claimed Russia was mobilising a cyber army to cripple UK infrastructure potentially killing thousands.

His remarks were branded as “worthy of Monty Python” by Russian defence chiefs, saying his the comments were “part of a fiery crusade for military budget”.

Russia has denied any aggressive intentions, and accusations of cyber warfare and election hacking have been dismissed as “absurd”.