UK vows to send warships through disputed Crimean waters again after confrontation with Russia

Sophia Sleigh, Political Correspondent @SophiaSleigh

24 June 2021

Britain has vowed to send warships through the waters around Crimea again after a Black Sea confrontation with Russia.

The UK Government has repeatedly insisted that no shots were fired at Royal Navy ship HMS Defender as she sailed some 12 miles off Crimea’s coast on Wednesday.

Russia meanwhile has called the incident “provocation” and has summoned the British ambassador to a meeting. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Britain of lying in its reaction to the incident in comments that were broadcast on state television.

Moscow claimed its forces fired warning shots at the warship and a jet dropped bombs in its path, accusing it of straying into its territorial waters.

However, Environment Secretary George Eustice said that a “gunnery exercise” was taking place instead.

Asked if the Royal Navy would sail there again, he said “of course, yes” and added: “We never accepted the annexation of Crimea, these were Ukrainian territorial waters.”

He told Sky News: “Under international law you can take the closest, fastest route from one point to another. HMS Defender was passing through Ukrainian waters, I think on the way to Georgia, and that was the logical route for it to take.

“This is a very normal thing, it’s quite common actually. What was actually going on is the Russians were doing a gunnery exercise, they had given prior notice of that, they often do in that area. So, I think it’s important people don’t get carried away.”

Journalists on the warship said at times there had been 20 Russian warplanes monitoring its progress and that the sound of gunfire had been heard, although it was believed to be out of range.

BBC Defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said the crew had been on high alert, at one point donning their “white flash” protective equipment in case there was an exchange of fire.

He said a Russian coastguard vessel had attempted to make it change course but it stayed with the recognised shipping lane.

He added that even after it was past Crimea, Russian jets continued “buzzing” it.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace on Wednesday acknowledged it had been “shadowed” by Russian forces during its transit from Odessa in southern Ukraine towards Georgia but played down the incident saying it was “routine” practice.

Former Chief of the General Staff Lord Dannatt said he was “a little bit surprised” that the Ministry of Defence was “playing it down” but they probably wanted to keep things “in perspective”.

Asked if the idea of a Russian bomb being dropped next to a British warship was “squeaky bum time” he replied: “It is.”

Lord Dannatt added: “Just think, Russian warships come through the Channel but we don’t go around lobbing bombs at them.”

He said it was “completely unacceptable” for Russians to throw explosives into the sea in the vicinity of a British warship or to fire live rounds even under a supposed “gunnery exercise”, adding: “We all know that that’s a load of codswallop.”

Meanwhile, Former Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy Lord Alan West accused Vladimir Putin of “playing to the home audience”.

He said President Putin was an “expert” at disinformation, telling LBC: “Putin wants to play to his home audience, he wants to tell them ‘aren’t I tough, look at that, I’ve made Britain go away’, and that’s why I think they lied about firing warning shots at the Defender - which they didn’t do.”

The Russian ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin later described the incident as “regrettable” and claimed HMS Defender had been 3 kilometres inside Russian territorial waters.

However, Mr Wallace said it was not the first time the Russians had made false claims about British warships operating in the area, having previously claimed to have “chased out” another Type 45 destroyer, HMS Dragon.

“These are the things that come and go with Russia. Disinformation, misinformation is something that we have seen regularly. We are not surprised by it,” he said.

The Kremlin, which annexed Crimea in 2014, has been riled by the movement of Nato warships in the Black Sea seen as offering support to Ukraine.

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