LONDON (AP) — A Royal Navy warship has met and tracked a group of Russian military ships entering the English Channel in an operation that the Ministry of Defense repeatedly stressed was a routine matter.

Britain’s HMS Dragon, a Type 45 destroyer, monitored the movement of the seven-strong Russian group Thursday led by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. The navy says that once the ships spotted each other they “sailed close by as a standard ‘meet and greet.’ “

Defense Secretary Philip Hammond says the deployment was a pre-planned operation and organized after British authorities learned of the Kuznetzov’s route.

The same Russian group, which also includes the nuclear-powered battle cruiser Pyotr Velikiy, went in the opposite direction through the Channel last year.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.