This is the first time since the cold war that moscow which claims the
waters belong to Russia has used live ammunition to deter a nato warship.
The UK ministry of defense denied russia's claims about the incident. The
ministry said that the royal navy ship was conducting innocent passage
through ukraine territorial waters in accordance with international law and
that no shots were directed at HMS defender and we do not recognize the
claim that bombs were dropped in her path.
The destroyer is part of the UK carrier strike group heading to the
indo-pacific region.
Earlier this month it was announced that the vessel would be carrying out
its own set of missions in the black sea separate from the group.
The russian defense ministry said it has summoned the uk military attache in
moscow to protest the british destroyer's maneuver.
Russia annexed ukraine's crimean peninsula in 2014, a move that was not
recognized by most countries in the world, gaining access to the peninsula's
long black sea coastline.
Russia has frequently chafed at nato warships visits near crimea casting
them as destabilizing. NATO members turkey romania and bulgaria all are on
the black sea but warships from the US, UK and other NATO allies also have
made increasingly frequent visits there in a show of support for ukraine.
Speaking wednesday just before the incident, General Valerie Jurassimo the
chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, sharply criticized
the deployments of NATO warships near russian waters.
The moves by warships of the us and its allies have been clearly
provocative. Jurassimov said at an international security conference in
moscow organized by the russian defense ministry, it creates preconditions
for incidents and doesn't help ease tensions in the military sphere.
He charged that the british destroyer dragon intruded into the russian
waters near crimea in october and that the US Destroyer John Mccain violated
the russian border in the sea of japan.
Russia imposed restrictions on foreign navy ships movements near Crimea in a
move that drew strong complaints from Ukraine and the west.
Russia has rejected that criticism and noted that the restrictions wouldn't
interfere with commercial shipping.
Earlier this year russia also beefed up its troops near the border with
Ukraine and warned ukrainian authorities against using force to reclaim
control of the country's east, where a conflict with russia backed
separatists has killed more than 14,000 people in seven years.
Moscow withdrew some of its forces after sweeping maneuvers, but ukrainian
officials say that the bulk of them have remained.
