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Russia's Black Sea warning to Britain, 24 June 2021
Summary
A look back at the day Moscow threatened to bomb British vessels after an incident involving HMS Defender near Crimea.
What did Russia say to Britain on 24 June 2021, and why did it matter? Moscow warned the United Kingdom that it would bomb British vessels if the Royal Navy took any further provocative action in the Black Sea.
The warning followed an incident reported on 23 June 2021. Russia's Defence Ministry said a Russian Navy patrol ship had fired shots and a Su-24 attack aircraft had dropped bombs in the path of the destroyer HMS Defender. According to Moscow, the ship had entered Russian-claimed territorial waters near Crimea.
The UK Ministry of Defence rejected that account. It denied that any shots or bombs had been directed at the British ship and said the Russian activity was part of a military exercise in the vicinity.
By 24 June, Russia had already summoned the British ambassador to Russia over the incident. London maintained that the vessel had been in Ukrainian waters and that it was entirely right to use the route. It added that the Royal Navy would always uphold international law and would not accept unlawful interference with innocent passage.
The two governments thus gave conflicting accounts of both the location and the nature of the encounter, and the exchange moved from a naval incident to an open threat within a day.
