Russia’s Defense Ministry said it fired warning shots at HMS Defender off the coast of Crimea, which the U.K. has denied.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has said one of its vessels fired warning shots at a British Royal Navy ship because it had violated Russian waters. Moscow’s claim, which has been denied by Britain’s Ministry of Defense, came on a day when Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized NATO ‘s military buildup near his country’s borders, which he said could lead to «unpredictable incidents.» Moscow said in a statement that just before midday on Wednesday, HMS Defender, operating in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, had «crossed the state border of the Russian Federation and moved 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) into the territorial sea near Cape Fiolent,» according to Russian state news agency Tass. It said that a Russian border guard patrol ship «conducted warning fire» and a Su-24M aircraft «carried out preventative bombing,» along the route of the British vessel which «left the territorial sea of the Russian Federation at 12.
