Russia used bombs and gunfire in “warning shots” against a British Navy destroyer in the Black Sea, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Wednesday.
VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA – APRIL 30, 2021: A Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft flies over the city of Vladivostok during a rehearsal of an air show marking the 76th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Yuri Smityuk/TASS (Photo by Yuri Smityuk\TASS via Getty Images)A Su-24 aircraft dropped four bombs in waters near the Royal Navy destroyer H.M.S. Defender and a border patrol ship fired its gun to divert it after the British vessel entered Russia’s territorial waters off Crimea and refused to heed radio warnings, the ministry said, according to the Interfax news service. Russia alleged the ship was 3 kilometers (2 miles) into its waters when the incident occurred and reversed course after the firing.
The U.K. and its allies don’t recognize Crimea as Russian territory after Moscow annexed the region from Ukraine in 2014.
