Russia accuses Britain of barefaced lies over Black Sea warship incident

• Raab: Russia is “predictably imprecise”
• Russia accuses Great Britain of being a provocateur
• Britain says: no shots, no bombs
• Russia says: Britain has broken through our waters

LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) – Russia on Thursday accused Britain of spreading outright lies about an incident in the Black Sea in which Moscow said it had fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of a British destroyer off the annexed Russian coast Crimea.

Russia called the British ambassador in Moscow on a formal diplomatic scolding after the warship breached its territorial waters, which the Kremlin says belong to Ukraine.

Britain said Russia sowed inaccuracies and denied Russia’s account as no warning shots were fired and no bombs were dropped in the path of the Royal Navy destroyer Defender. Continue reading

Russia’s Foreign Ministry called Ambassador Deborah Bronnert to a “tough demarche” – diplomatic jargon for defamation – and spokeswoman Maria Sakharova accused London of “outrageous lies”.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told reporters on a visit to Singapore: “The HMS Defender was not fired.”

“The Royal Navy ship made an innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters. We did so in accordance with international law, and the Russian characterization is predictably inaccurate.”

According to international law of the sea, innocent passage allows a ship to cross the territorial waters of another state as long as this does not impair its safety.

Russia conquered and annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and regards areas around its coast as Russian waters. Western countries consider Crimea to be part of Ukraine and reject Russia’s claim to the seas around it.

The Black Sea, which Russia uses to project its power into the Mediterranean, has been a focal point between Russia and its competitors like Turkey, France, Great Britain and the United States for centuries.

BLACK SEA SERIES

During the 2008 Georgian War, Russia resisted US warships operating in the Black Sea, and in April the United States canceled the stationing of two warships in the region.

Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden say relations between the two former Cold War enemies are at rock bottom after disputes over espionage, hacking, electoral interference, Ukraine, Belarus and human rights.

Links between London and Moscow have been on hold since 2018 when double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned with a Soviet-developed nerve agent called Novichok, a mole that betrayed hundreds of Russian agents to the UK MI6 overseas espionage service.

Russia said the British ship ventured up to 3 km (2 miles) into Russian waters near Cape Fiolent, a landmark on the south coast of Crimea near the port of Sevastopol, the headquarters of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet.

Britain tried to downplay the warship incident while accusing Moscow of disinformation.

“These are things that come and go with Russia; disinformation, misinformation is something we see regularly,” said Defense Minister Ben Wallace. “We’re not surprised by this, we’re planning it.”

The British BBC released footage from the ship warning a Russian officer that he would shoot if the British ship did not change course. Russia released footage filmed by a Russian SU-24 bomber that flew near the British ship.

Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Adaptation by Kate Holton

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