Russia threatens to bomb British ships off Crimea

What happened in the Black Sea on 24 June 2021, and why did it draw such sharp language between Moscow and London? Russia warned the United Kingdom that it would bomb British vessels if the Royal Navy took any further provocative action in the area.

The warning followed an incident reported on 23 June 2021. Russia's Defence Ministry said a Russian Navy patrol ship fired shots and a Su-24 attack aircraft dropped bombs in the path of the destroyer HMS Defender, after the ship reportedly entered waters near Crimea that Russia claims as its own territorial waters.

The UK Ministry of Defence rejected that account. It said the episode was part of a Russian military exercise in the vicinity and denied that any shots or bombs had been directed at the British ship.

Russia had already summoned the British ambassador to Russia over the incident. London's position, as stated, was that the vessel was in Ukrainian waters and that it was entirely right to use the route. The UK added that the Royal Navy would always uphold international law and would not accept unlawful interference with innocent passage.

By 24 June 2021, the two governments therefore offered opposing accounts of where the ship had been and what had been fired or dropped near it, and Moscow had added an explicit threat against future British naval activity.