The Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement this morning announcing that a Russian warship fired warning shots at the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Defender, which it said had violated Russia’s maritime border around Crimea in the Black Sea. “At 11:52 am on 23 June, the HMS Defender of the British Royal Navy, operating in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, violated the border and entered three kilometres into Russian territorial waters in the region of Cape Fiolent,” the ministry statement said, reported Sputnik News. The statement added that warnings had been issued to the British ship but were ignored.
“At 12:06 and 12:08, a border patrol vessel carried out warning shots. At 12:19 a Su-24M carried out a warning bombing run using 4 OFAB-250 [high-explosive fragmentation] bombs at the HMS Defender’s path of movement,” the statement added. “At 12:23 the combined actions of the Black Sea Fleet and the Border Forces of the FSB forced the HMS Defender to leave the territorial waters of the Russian Federation.”
The British Ministry of Defense not only denied that there were any warning shots fired at the HMS Defender but denied that there was any incident at all. “We believe the Russians were undertaking a gunnery exercise in the Black Sea and provided the maritime community with prior-warning of their activity,” the MoD press office said on Twitter. “No shots were directed at HMS Defender and we do not recognize the claim that bombs were dropped in her path.”
The MoD insisted that “The Royal Navy ship is conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law,” on its way from Odessa to Georgia. Prime Minister Boris Johnson”s official spokesman elaborated: “As you know, the UK does not recognize Russia’s claim to Crimea.”
