Yesterday, more than 20 Russian aircraft and two coastguard ships shadowed the Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Defender, sailing near Crimea. Moscow’s defence ministry said a patrol ship fired warning shots and a jet dropped bombs in the path of HMS Defender as it sailed some 12 miles (19km) off Crimea’s coast. The UK government rejected Russia’s account of the incident and denied that any warning shots had been fired.
The BBC reports that HMS Defender was sailing from Odessa in southern Ukraine to Georgia. To get there, it passed south of the Crimea peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 in a move that has not been recognized internationally.
While Moscow claims the peninsula and its waters are Russian territory, the UK says HMS Defender was passing through Ukrainian waters in a commonly used and internationally recognized transit route.
A source told BBC diplomatic correspondent James Landale that the Defender was not there to pick a fight but to make a point – to assert its right to freedom of navigation in international waters.
Russia says it fired warning shots at British warship – BBC News
Thanks to Alaric Bond for contributing to this post.
What they have to remember is that they need British permission to transit the English Channel and are always escorted by RN warships.
What goes around comes around.
For information
https://www.navylookout.com/was-hms-defender-targeted-by-the-russians-in-the-black-sea/?fbclid=IwAR1Zi_RD1K-fcquR19tNGj_KJC02-hzRHiC3Wh8-xuIN_7Ds5e7jWNb1yTk
And
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-57587777
Also see:
“Russia spoofed AIS data to fake British warship’s course days before Crimea guns showdown”
https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/24/russia_ais_spoofing/
People who hang out here know that a “ship” with AIS capable of running for several days could be stuffed in a backpack.
And the Russian MO: don’t care if the theatre is plausible under scrutiny; doubt is all that’s needed to paralyze. See MH 17: “There were no missiles and they were not our missiles and if they were they were stolen by Ukrainian partisans and anyway no jet was ever shot down.” Job done.