The BBC correspondent Jonathan Beale has accused the British Ministry of Defense of spreading false information about the incident with the British destroyer URO "Defender" in the Black Sea. This is stated in the publication posted on Wednesday, June 23.
A reporter on board the destroyer confirmed that during the pursuit of the ship by Russian forces, he heard warning shots, although the British military department claims that there were no such shots.
The correspondent also said that two Russian coast guard ships that followed the British ship tried to force it to change course. At some stage, one of the Russian vessels approached a distance of about 100 m.
"Increasingly hostile warnings were heard on the radio, one of them said:" If you do not change course, I will open fire." We actually heard some shots in the distance, " the correspondent notes.
The commander of the destroyer also told the correspondent that the presence of more than 20 military aircraft was recorded in the vicinity.
The British destroyer, operating in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, crossed the state border of Russia and entered the territorial sea near Cape Fiolent 3 km earlier that day.
The destroyer was previously warned about the use of weapons in case of violation of the Russian state border,but there was no reaction. In this regard, the warning firing was carried out by the border patrol ship of the Russian Federation and the Russian Su-24M bomber.
After the joint actions of the Black Sea Fleet and the Border Service of the FSB of Russia, the British destroyer left the borders of the territorial sea of Russia.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation regarded the actions of the destroyer URO "Defender" as a gross violation of the UN Convention. The agency called on the British side to conduct a thorough investigation of the actions of the ship's crew.
However, the British Ministry of Defense stated that the Navy ship made a peaceful passage through the territorial waters of Ukraine in accordance with international law, no warning shots were fired.
After the incident, the defense attache at the British Embassy in Moscow was summoned to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow qualifies the actions of the British destroyer as a gross provocation. The British ambassador will also be summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with the incident.
