A Russian military ship fired “warning” shots at the British destroyer “Hms Defender” sailing off the coast of Crimea, in the Black Sea. Subsequently, a Navy fighter plane dropped four fragmentation bombs, again to convince the boat to change course. The Moscow Defense Ministry explained that the double warning is due to the “violation of territorial waters” by the British destroyer. “The destroyer was warned in advance that weapons would be used in the event of a violation of the Russian state borders. It did not take care of the warning, ”the British Defense Ministry said. The military attaché of the British embassy in the Russian capital was summoned to answer the charge, while London denies the incident entirely: no warning shots were fired at his boat.
The exercises together with Ukraine and the USA
The British military ship had arrived in the Black Sea to take part in exercises organized jointly by Ukraine and the United States, “Sea Breeze 2021” which will start next week, with the participation of 5 thousand soldiers, 32 naval units and 40 aircraft. The duration of the exercises, an annual appointment since 1997, is 12 days. A record number of 32 countries participate in the maneuvers this year, not just NATO. Moscow did not like the presence of the destroyer in “its territorial waters”, responding with two warnings within a few minutes. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, a Border Guard vessel fired warning shots at 12.06 and 12.08 and later, at 12.19, a Su-24M aircraft dropped bombs as a warning on the British military ship’s route.
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London’s denial: no hit against Hsm Defender, it was Moscow exercise
London, however, provides a different version of the facts: no warning shot against Hsm Defender and, in particular, no violation of Russian waters. “The Royal Navy ship is making a harmless passage through Ukrainian territorial waters, respecting international law,” reads a tweet from the ministry’s press office account. “The Russians were engaged in an artillery drill in the Black Sea and had given the maritime community an advance warning of their activity. No shots were fired in the direction of the Hms Defender and we do not recognize the statement that bombs were dropped on its trajectory », he specifies.