Yantar (Янтарь) is a special purpose intelligence collection ship built for the Russian Navy.

[3][13][14] On 23 November 2017, upon an order of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yantar and the specialists of the Russian Navy's 328th expedition search and rescue unit were sent to Argentina's coast to search for the Argentine submarine ARA San Juan that went missing on 15 November 2017.

[17] In late March, Yantar was anchored off the Baie de la Seine, a few weeks before the Suffren first sea trial from Cherbourg.

[18] In August 2021, Yantar was spotted off the coast of Ireland, running parallel to AEConnect-1 and the expected route of the Celtic Norse submarine communications cable, as well as taking up a stationary position between them for most of the day.

[22] On 11 and 12 September 2023, while being followed by the Norwegian Coast Guard vessel Barentshav (W340) in the Fram Strait, Yantar closely followed RV Kronprins Haakon for 16.5 hours.

[N 1] The Russian ship was operating without AIS and would overtly copy all of the research vessel's stops and movements, at one point closing to a distance of 200–370 metres.

Beneath this area of sea, south-west of the Isle of Man and east of Dublin, lie cables carrying data for Microsoft and Google.

[24] In January 2025, Yantar resupplied in Algiers and attended a high level meeting in Algeria, and then operated on the location of the sunk MV Ursa Major.