VIENNA – Russia may drop bombs on British warships in the Black Sea if there are any further provocative actions by the British Navy, Konstantin Gavrilov, a Russian envoy at talks here on military security and arms control, said yesterday.
UK Defence Minister Ben Wallace had yesterday reiterated that HMS Defender conducted “innocent passage” through Ukrainian waters near Crimea on Wednesday when Russia scrambled gunboats and a bomber to drive it away. The Russian Defence Ministry said the jet dropped four bombs in the path of the British destroyer.
Gavrilov said during an OSCE security forum that he was outraged by the UK military’s claims and warned that “next time, bombs – if we do choose to go that way – will be dropped on target and not in a ship’s path”, Sputnik had reported him as saying.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was entirely right for a Royal Navy destroyer to be sailing in the Black Sea off Crimea since the UK government does not recognise Crimea’s reunification with Russia and, therefore, Russia’s claim to those waters.
“These is a matter for the MoD (Defence Ministry), but if you want my view, I think it was wholly appropriate to use international waters. And, by the way, the important point is that we don’t recognise the Russian annexation of Crimea, this is part of a sovereign Ukrainian territory,” Johnson told reporters during a visit to a military camp in the English town of Aldershot yesterday.
He added that the UK had merely exercised its right to pursue freedom of navigation and take the shortest route between two points.
Russia says the British warship sailed as far as 3km into Russian waters near the southernmost tip of Sevastopol, a Russian naval base, prompting gunboats to fire warning shots. The UK Defence Ministry insists the move was part of an exercise. – Bernama, June 25, 2021
