The British destroyer HMS Defender entered the Russian maritime territory. Prime Minister Johnson denied the seriousness of the incident.
On Friday, Russia's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Ryabkov called the actions of the British destroyer HMS Defender, which violated the Russian border in the Black Sea on June 26, a provocation.
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He accused the U.S. and U.K. of misrepresenting what happened despite the fact that there are recordings of conversations between the Russian coast guard and the command of the British ship.
"The video completely closes the plot with malicious attempts on the part of high-ranking London officials and some representatives of the U.S. government," Ryabkov said, adding that the ultimate cause of the incident is the fact that Washington and London do not want to recognize the reality, i.e. they do not want to recognize that the Crimean peninsula is part of Russia.
"The inviolability of Russia's borders is an absolute imperative," he stressed and mentioned that his country's territory will be protected "by all diplomatic, political, and, if necessary, military means."
AIS data shows that HMS Defender was at it's closest around 10 nautical miles (18.5km/11.5mi) from the Crimean coast. The UN state that territorial waters can be up to 12 nautical miles. This would put HMS Defender 2 nautical miles or 3.7km inside 'Russian' waters around Crimea. pic.twitter.com/nLUZ96Qs04
— Kyle Glen (@KyleJGlen) June 23, 2021
In a similar vein, the Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov warned that Russia will not exclude any options to protect its borders from future provocations.
On Thursday, the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson denied the seriousness of the matter arguing that the destroyer's actions in the Black Sea waters proceeded according to international law.
Appreciated from a historical perspective, however, the incident was not minor. For the first time since the end of the Cold War in 1991, Russia was forced to use live ammunition to deter a NATO warship from entering its territory.
On NATO's 69 anniversary, let's take a look at the organization's "humanitarian interventions" over history. pic.twitter.com/aev5cLI43H
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) April 4, 2018