Britain has accused Russia of giving an inaccurate account of an incident in the Black Sea off the Crimea peninsula in which Russia said it fired warning shots at a British destroyer.
Britain denied that a Russian warship fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs to force a British Destroyer away from an area in the Black Sea near Crimea that Russia claims as its territory.
Environment Secretary George Eustice told Sky News that such gunnery exercises were not particularly abnormal. Britain maintains that no warning shots were fired or bombs dropped in the path of HMS Defender.
Russian authorities have accused the British of going three kilometres (1.9 miles) inside Russian territory off Cape Fiolent in Crimea just before noon local time on Wednesday, a CNN report reads.
Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Britain's ambassador Deborah Bronnert for a formal reprimand over the incident.
"We believe it was a deliberate and premeditated provocation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters. "In the event of a repeat of unacceptable provocative action - if those actions go too far, no options can be ruled out in terms of legally defending Russia's borders," he added.
Russian Ministry of Defence in Moscow also summoned UK’s defence attache. Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that the vessel entered the internationally recognised traffic corridor while conducting a “routine transit” from Odesa towards Georgia across the Black Sea. The British Ministry of Defence tweeted, “We believe the Russians were undertaking a gunnery exercise in the Black Sea and provided the maritime community with prior warning of their activity.” In another tweet, it wrote, “The Royal Navy ship is conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.”
Most of the world and Britain believes that water around Crimea belongs to Ukraine. In 2014, Russia seized and annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine and considers areas around it to be Russian waters. Russia has called Britain’s actions a blatant provocation. Russia, supporting its claim, released footage filmed from a Russian SU-24 bomber flying close to the British ship.
BBC in the meantime, released footage showing a Russian officer warning that a shot would be fired if the British ship did not change course.
