"A Russian military ship fired warning shots at a British Royal Navy destroyer after it entered Russian waters in the Black Sea, and a Russian jet dropped bombs in its path as a warning, Interfax cited Russia's defence ministry as saying on Wednesday.
The British Ministry of Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment."
Obviously we've only got the Russian side of the story so far, so the bit about the ship intruding three kilometers into... er, Russian-with-an-asterisk territorial waters is one party's side of the story.
We don't know if it was an accident, we don't know if it was deliberate, we don't even know if it actually happened. All I know is that disputed incidents with destroyers give me the creeping willies.
That, and a lone surface combatant that deep in a hostile littoral is definitely in the belly of the beast (and Ironically within cruise missile range of Balaclava.) The Crimean Peninsula as a whole is not, historically, a location associated with great British victories.
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| HMS Defender |
ETA: The Beeb claims the Russians' штаны are on fire. They say nobody shot at their destroyer and there was no F-111ski dropping bombs.
But the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said "no warning shots have been fired at HMS Defender".It should be pointed out that technically the British would consider the Crimean coast to be Ukrainian territorial waters.
It added that the ship was sailing in Ukrainian waters.
"The Royal Navy ship is conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law," the MoD said.
The MoD said the Russians were carrying out a gunnery exercise in the Black Sea and provided prior warning of their activity.
"No shots were directed at HMS Defender and we do not recognise the claim that bombs were dropped in her path," it added.
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