Russia will directly bomb HMS Defender if it sails too close to Crimea again, minister warns
Russia will directly bomb HMS Defender if it sails too close to Crimea again, its deputy foreign minister warns as MP Tobias Ellwood says tensions could spiral into an actual engagement after Black Sea stand-off
- Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov warned against NATO taking ‘provocative steps’
- He vowed that Russia will bomb any ships who ‘violate the state borders of the Russian federation’
- HMS Defender sailed within the 12-mile zone of Crimea which Russia claims but the West does not recognise
- Tobias Ellwood, Chair of the Defence Select Committee, admitted Britain is playing a ‘dangerous game’
A top Russian official has warned a British warship will be bombed the next time it sails too close to Crimea after warning shots were fired at HMS Defender on Wednesday.
The British Type 45 destroyer sailed within the 12-mile limit of Crimea near Cape Fiolent in the Black Sea which Russia claims as its own territory but the West sees as international waters.
After the flashpoint, which saw 20 Su-24s buzzing over the Royal Navy vessel, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov warned: ‘What can we do? We can appeal to common sense, demand respect for international law.
‘If this does not help, we can bomb not only in the direction but also on target, if our colleagues do not understand.
‘I warn everyone violating the state borders of the Russian Federation under the slogan of free navigation, from such provocative steps, because the security of our country comes first.’
Backing up his comments, the Kremlin said Moscow that would respond harshly to any similar actions in the future and warned against any further ‘provocations’.
Despite their warnings, British minister George Eustice said ‘of course’ Royal Navy ships will continue to sail through the disputed waters around Crimea, saying: ‘We never accepted the annexation of Crimea, these were Ukrainian territorial waters.’
Meanwhile Britain’s Chair of the Defence Select Committee, Tobias Ellwood, admitted there is a prospect of an engagment flaring up with Britain’s ‘dangerous game’ of sailing in disputed waters.
The former Defence Secretary told BBC 4: ‘There’s huge scope for an accident to occur, misinterpretation, leading to an actual kinetic engagement and it could be a bit of time before somebody grabs that red phone and calms things down.’
Amid the escalating tensions, Boris Johnson boarded a helicopter to visit soldiers in the new Ranger Regiment to mark Britain’s Armed Forces Week in a show of military strength.
Boris Johnson boarded a helicopter in London this morning to visit soldiers as part of Armed Forces Week amid the escalating row with Russia
Russia released footage filmed from one of its Su-24M attack jets which showed HMS Defender sailing off Crimea – but not the moment it alleges shots were fired and four bombs were dropped
Images released by the Russian defence ministry shows the SU-24s buzzing above the destroyer and lining the vessel up in its crosshairs
Pictured: HMS Defender conducts close proximity sailing whilst on maritime operations in the Black Sea on June 17
Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov (pictured) has vowed to bomb a British warship the next time it sails too close to Crimea after warning shots were fired at HMS Defender on Wednesday
Britain’s prime minister met with soldiers of the new Ranger Regiment during a visit to mark Armed Forces Week, at the Aldershot Garrison in Aldershot, amid the diplomatic row
Johnson poses in an armoured vehicle of the new Ranger Regiment as members of his government criticise Russia’s ‘misinformation’ over Wednesday’s incident
Russia claimed to have shot at HMS Defender, and to have dropped four bombs from an Su-24M warplane in waters ahead of the Royal Navy vessel.
Britain has denied the Russian version, and insists HMS Defender was either in Ukrainian or international waters at all times.
Many Western countries do not accept Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea by military force as being legitimate in law.
Britain’s ambassador Deborah Bronnert will be summoned to the Russian foreign ministry on Thursday to give account for HMS Defender’s actions.
Ryabkov said today: ‘We are outraged by their [the UK’s] behaviour, and we would like to note that balancing on the brink of confrontation is fraught with very serious consequences for those who plan such events and then try to carry them out.’
Black Sea menace: One of two Russian patrol vessels with 30mm gun, circled, that fired heavy bursts towards the Royal Navy destroyer it was shadowing
Britain’s Chair of the Defence Select Committee, Tobias Ellwood (right), admitted it is a ‘dangerous game’ to provoke Russia and other powers by sailing in disputed waters, while Lord Alan West (left) accused Vladimir Putin of ‘playing to the home audience’
Vigilance: Crew member scans sea for Russian activity on board the vessel on Tuesday when the incident occured
A picture taken on Friday shows a ship from the Russian Black Sea Fleet (circled) shadowing USS Laboon , HMS Defender and the Dutch frigate HNLMS Evertsen
The diplomat said: ‘This is a very serious situation, we condemn the actions of the British side.’
He said: ‘The territorial integrity of the Russian Federation is inviolable.
‘The inviolability of its borders is an absolute imperative, and we will protect all this both through political-diplomatic and, when necessary, military methods.’
Meanwhile a former Royal Navy chief accused Vladimir Putin of ‘playing to the home audience’ after Moscow’s bold claims of its use of force against HMS Defender.
Lord Alan West, former Chief of Defence Intelligence, Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Security and Counter-Terrorism, said the Russian president’s behaviour was ‘appalling’.
Bear in the air: Co-pilot looks out as his Su-30 jet roars over the British warship during the close call that emerged on Tuesday
‘The bottom line is Putin is an expert at disinformation and his actions are very reckless, and we’ve seen that now for three or four years,’ he told LBC.
‘His behaviour is appalling.
‘There’s no doubt the (HMS) Defender was asserting her right of innocent passage from one port to another.
‘Putin wants to play to his home audience, he wants to tell them ‘aren’t I tough, look at that, I’ve made Britain go away’, and that’s why I think they lied about firing warning shots at the defender – which they didn’t do.
‘As per usual, I’m afraid, Putin’s organisation is lying about that.’
Lord West added that the behaviour was ‘dangerous and stupid’.
‘I would say it’s the behaviour of a rogue state, but Russia shouldn’t be a rogue state,’ he said.
Battle stations: Officers and crew in white anti-flash balaclavas and mittens feel the pressure yesterday as they dictate naval operations from Defender’s bridge
Some footage was allegedly shot from the Su-24M which is said to have dropped four bombs to deter the Royal Navy vessel. Above: Su-24Ms seen in the Russian video
Meanwhile cabinet minister George Eustice told Sky News: ‘Under international law you can take the closest, fastest route from one point to another. HMS Defender was passing through Ukrainian waters, I think on the way to Georgia, and that was the logical route for it to take.
‘This is a very normal thing, it’s quite common actually. What was actually going on is the Russians were doing a gunnery exercise, they had given prior notice of that, they often do in that area.
‘So, I think it’s important people don’t get carried away.’
Asked if the Government would do it again, he said ‘of course, yes’, adding: ‘We never accepted the annexation of Crimea, these were Ukrainian territorial waters.’
He said while the gunner exercise was the ‘official reason’ given for the Russian activities, ‘whether that was cover for them to try and make some point, we don’t know’.
‘Perhaps it was, perhaps it wasn’t,’ he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
Moscow boasted that an Su-24 dropped four bombs in the vessel’s path after it refused to back down and warning shots were fired from their patrol ship, but Britain said the destroyer stayed in international waters and no shots were fired.
Two Black Sea Fleet coastguard ships continued to shadow HMS Defender from 100 yards away while 20 military aircraft patrolled it from the skies as it charted its course from Odessa in Ukraine to Georgia past Crimea, which Russia has annexed but the West refuses to recognise.
Former head of the Army General Lord Dannatt said Mr Putin is ‘testing the will of the West’.
He told Sky News: ‘I’m a little bit surprised that the Ministry of Defence is playing it down.
‘It was unreasonable of the Russians to challenge HMS Defender in the way that they did.
‘The underlying point is that there are international laws that must be upheld by everyone and HMS Defender had the absolute right to be where she was yesterday.’
It was the first time since the Cold War that Moscow acknowledged using live ammunition to deter a NATO warship, reflecting the growing risk of military incidents amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West, as Ukraine’s foreign minister appealed for further NATO help.
But Britain’s Foreign Secretary said: ‘No shots were fired at HMS Defender. The Royal Navy ship was conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters. We were doing so in accordance with international law and the Russian characterisation is predictably inaccurate.’
Meanwhile Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: ‘These are things that come and go with Russia; disinformation, misinformation is something that we have seen regularly. We are not surprised by it, we plan for it.’
Russia released footage filmed from one of its Su-24M attack jets which showed HMS Defender sailing off Crimea – but evidently not the moment it alleges shots were fired and four bombs were dropped.
A map shows the route taken by HMS Defender during the alleged incident near the south coast of Crimea
Captain Vincent Owen said his mission was confident but non-confrontational and insisted he was maintaining course on an internationally recognised shipping lane but Mr Beale said it was a ‘deliberate move to make a point to Russia’.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also denounced what she called ‘rude British provocation that defies international law’.
The Russian ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, described the incident as ‘regrettable’ and claimed HMS Defender had been two miles inside Russian territorial waters.
He told Channel 4 News: ‘He did not respond to several warnings, at least the warnings were issued every 10 minutes while he was going into water, deep into the waters. And then it was stopped by means that were available.’
To underline Moscow’s point, the Russian Embassy chose a picture of the Crimea as its daily post of a ‘Russian’ landscape.
The Ministry of Defence and Number 10 insist the incident never happened, adding that Russia was carrying out pre-arranged exercises and Defender was conducting an ‘innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters’.
Releasing the footage of HMS Defender from the air, Russian defence ministry’s TV channel Zvezda said: ‘In the footage can be seen the culprit of the incident, the destroyer Defender.
‘It is not known at what moment the footage was shot, either before or after the warning shots which forced the ship to change course and leave the territory of the Russian Federation.’
Some footage was allegedly shot from the Su-24M which is said to have dropped four bombs to deter the Royal Navy vessel.
Other footage may have been from a military drone.
A caption said the footage showed a joint operation by the FSB Border Service and the Black Sea Fleet ‘uppressing violations of the Russian state border by the British destroyer HMS Defender’.
HMS Defender is armed with missiles, an air defence system, an armed Lynx Wildcat helicoper, Westland Merlin helictopers and various naval guns. Russia’s Su-24 jets are equipped with 23mm cannon, laser-guided air-to-surface and air-to-air missiles and can also carry tactical nuclear bombs
In an unusual move, Russia also released footage of Britain’s defence attaché being summoned in Moscow.
Such meetings are normally private but a video was released to state media fuelling the assumption that Moscow was using the alleged incident for propaganda.
‘In the wake of a violation of the Russian Federation’s border by a Royal Navy destroyer, the defence attaché at the UK embassy in Moscow has been summoned to the Russian Defence Ministry,’ said a statement.
The Russian defence ministry had claimed a patrol ship first opened fire at 12.06pm and shot again two minutes later at HMS Defender after it refused to listen to radio warnings about entering its territorial waters.
Around ten minutes later, the Su-24 dropped four OFAB-250s in the path of the British vessel, forcing it to retreat after venturing two miles inside their waters, Russia said.
But the MoD issued a swift response to the claims, saying: ‘No warning shots have been fired at HMS Defender.
‘The Royal Navy ship is conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.
‘We believe the Russians were undertaking a gunnery exercise in the Black Sea and provided the maritime community with prior-warning of their activity.
‘No shots were directed at HMS Defender and we do not recognise the claim that bombs were dropped in her path.’
Tom Tugendhat, chair of the UK’s Foreign Affairs Committee slammed the government of Russia’s Vladimir Putin in a pair of tweets on Wednesday.
‘Firing shots at ships in international waters is criminal. Putin’s regime has: Used chemical weapons in the UK, Murdered opponents across Europe, Set explosions in Prague, Invaded and illegally occupied Ukraine and Georgia, Kept the Russian people hostage for a generation,’ he wrote.
‘Now it appears they lied about it,’ Tugendhat said in a second tweet.
‘For a mafia regime they really are pretty rubbish. But then they’ve so robbed the people and stripped out the country that there’s nothing left. Russia deserves better than these thieves.’
Won by conquest, given away as a ‘gift’, now occupied by force: Russia’s history in Crimea and the Black Sea
Prince Grigory Potemkin, who established the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea in 1783
The Black Sea – and the Crimean peninsula which juts into it – are a strategic crossroads between Europe, the Middle East and Asia which has been contested by Empires and nations for centuries.
The sea itself contains vital trading routes, is bordered by five of Russia’s near-neighbours, and today hosts vital energy pipelines and fibre optic cables.
For Russia to assert power in the waters, control of Crimea – which contains its main Black Sea port at Sevastopol and controls the Kerch Strait leading to the nearby Sea of Azov – is essential.
Crimea has, at one time or another, come under the control of the Greeks, Persians, Romans, Mongols, Ottomans.
It was not until 1783 that it fell fully under the control of the Russian Empire when Russian generals Alexander Suvorov and Mikhail Kamensky led a force of 8,000 men to victory against an Ottoman army of 40,000 at the the Battle of Kozludzha.
Russia’s Prince Grigory Potemkin quickly established the Russian Black Sea Fleet at the port of Sevastopol, from where he asserted naval power over the Black Sea, it neighbours including Georgia, Ukraine and Turkey, and projected power further into the Mediterranean.
Crimea also turned into a key trading post. On the eve of World War 1 in 1914 – some 50 per cent of all Russia’s exports and a full 90 per cent of its agricultural exports passed through Bosphorus Strait which leads out of the Black Sea.
In 1954 Crimea was given as a ‘gift’ by Nikita Khrushchev to Ukraine, ostensibly to mark the 300th anniversary of Ukraine’s merger with Tsarist Russia, but more likely to secure Ukraine’s support for Khrushchev’s leadership and to cement Ukraine as part of the Soviet Union.
Because Ukraine was then part of the Union, Moscow maintained control over Crimea and its vital ports – at least until 1991 when the union collapsed and Ukraine became and independent county.
Following Ukraine’s independence, access to the peninsula became a bargaining chip between the two nations, with Ukraine recognising Russia’s right to the port at Sevastopol in return for concessions such as writing off debts and taking control of part of the Black Sea fleet.
But in 2014, the pro-Moscow government of Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in a popular uprising that wanted to draw the country closer to Europe.
Fearing the loss of the port at Sevastopol, Putin marched troops into Crimea and seized control of it – later holding a ‘referendum’ which showed majority support for the region to become part of Russia, though the result is viewed as far from credible.
Today, Moscow is in control of the peninsula and refers to it as part of its territory, though most world bodies refer to the region as ‘occupied Crimea’.
The Black Sea Fleet remains one of Russia’s largest and most formidable, thought to comprise a total of 47 ships, seven submarines and 25,000 troops, mostly marines.
MARK NICOL witnesses bullets fly as Putin’s forces target British warship after tensions boil in the Black Sea
Mark Nicol on board HMS Defender yesterday
The angry thud of cannon fire rings out on the port side of HMS Defender as I crouch beside the bridge in my hastily adorned flame retardant gloves and balaclava.
We are being pursued furiously by a pair of Russian coastguard vessels while, every couple of minutes, Russian jets pass thunderously overhead.
The deafening roar of supersonic aircraft filling my ears is an unsettling, yet enthralling, experience. Then, as part of Defender’s response, her deadly arsenal of Sea Viper missiles are brought to readiness.
After a second burst of enemy cannon fire I overhear an update intended for her captain that we have ‘two hard-kill missiles effective’. For a second I wonder just what might happen next. Wars have started over less.
The drama began about an hour ago as we approached Crimean territorial waters to carry out what the Royal Navy calls a freedom of navigation patrol.
Russia does not like these patrols because it regards the waters off the peninsula as its territory – while the UK, as an ally of Ukraine, maintains these are Ukrainian waters. Irrespective of whose waters these are, the Royal Navy also insists Defender is following an internationally recognised shipping route.
I was inside the destroyer’s cool, dimly-lit operations room when the Russian radio operator issued the first of his warnings via the VHF transceiver: ‘Delta 36 [Defender’s radio call-sign], change your course.’
He didn’t sound too concerned though and there was no sense of what would transpire. Looking around none of the 30 crew in their blue overalls, sitting studiously before banks of radio screens, seem alarmed either. But minute by minute, as more red (for enemy) icons flash up on the banks of monitors, the tension mounts.
While today’s passage is entirely legitimate, and justified under UN charters and international shipping conventions, there is no doubt that we are, to use the overused phrase, poking the Russian bear. A signaller responds to a second warning from the Russian radio operator reminding him of the UK’s entitlement to uphold the right of innocent passage.
I move up two decks from the windowless operations room to Defender’s bridge, which affords a perfect view of the placid sea on this warm morning. I even spot dolphins swimming on our port side. All is well.
Black Sea menace: One of two Russian patrol vessels with 30mm gun, circled, that fired heavy bursts towards the Royal Navy destroyer it was shadowing
Vigilance: Crew member scans sea for Russian activity on board the vessel on Tuesday when the incident occured
All hands on deck: The Royal Navy destroyer carries a range of missile systems such as the Sea Viper as well as smaller anti-ship weapons
Heavy weaponry: Personnel get to grips with one of HMS Defender’s formidable guns. They are pictured handling ammunition for one of the guns
Captain Vincent Owen, pictured on HMS Defender today, said his mission was confident but non-confrontational and insisted he was maintaining course on an internationally recognised shipping lane but Mr Beale said it was a ‘deliberate move to make a point to Russia’
Members of the ship’s crew were pictured wearing anti-flash gear, which protects them from flame exposure and heat
Moments later the grey outline of a Russian coastguard vessel appears on the horizon. ‘Request her course,’ says Defender’s operations officer, glancing through binoculars over the ship’s head. Then over the radio Commander Owen asks: ‘How many aircraft [Russian] do we have now?’ ‘Probably 14 now,’ responds the female air warfare officer. That’s 14 supersonic jets and maritime patrol aircraft, including SU-24s. While more Russian jets are apparently taking off from nearby bases.
Then the Russian coastguard’s voice crackles on the radio again, sounding piqued by Defender’s course. Contrary to his requests we have declined to steer to our starboard to avoid what are Crimean territorial waters.
‘Delta 36, I am Russian coastguard, please change your course. Keep clear. Keep away from the border line, change your course. Your course leads to territorial waters. Do you read me over?’ Commander Owen responds on the radio reminding his crew they must ‘maintain the narrative’: the UK warship is here to uphold international law. ‘I suspect they’re going to try to budge us out,’ he says.
True to Commander Owen’s prediction two Russian coastguard vessels effectively form a barrier on Defender’s port side. Plumes of grey smoke rise from their engines as they accelerate in a bid to maintain Defender’s speed. Commander Owen is amused, remarking of the lead coastguard vessel: ‘She’s right on the beam now, she can’t keep up with us. We’re outrunning them.’
Defender’s wake sends huge waves towards the coastguard vessels which crash against their hulls – an ignominious feeling one imagines for the Russians, who seem desperate to keep us out of Crimean waters.
They’re back on the radio and this time the warnings are pretty threatening: ‘Delta 36, do not cross the border or I fire. Change your course. If you cross, I fire. Your ship is entering the territory of the Russian Federation. We do not take responsibility if you are damaged. We are engaging in a military exercise in this area.’
The introduction of the apparent military exercise seems a convenient ruse intended to dissuade Defender from entering what it regards as Russian waters.
More Russian jets conduct thunderous passes on our port and starboard and the operations officer is sufficiently concerned to order the crew to put on ‘anti-flash’ balaclavas and gloves.
Battle stations: Officers and crew in white anti-flash balaclavas and mittens feel the pressure yesterday as they dictate naval operations from Defender’s bridge
Another image taken from BBC footage showed a strip of bullets on the deck of HMS Defender
Russia claimed an Su-24 dropped four bombs in the path of HMS Defender in the Black Sea after accusing it of entering its waters near Cape Fiolent on Tuesday
A picture taken on Friday shows a ship from the Russian Black Sea Fleet (circled) shadowing USS Laboon , HMS Defender and the Dutch frigate HNLMS Evertsen
At this stage there’s no protective equipment for me. ‘Have you guys got any anti-flash?’ asks the ops officer. I shake my head. ‘Better get them some then,’ he says.
Sailors scurry off and come back with clothing I’ll be thankful for if any Russian missile or gunfire causes a fire aboard Defender. Pulling on the gear the threat seems real now. The Russians aren’t messing around and neither are we, there’s no way the Royal Navy is going to be steered off course.
The aircraft warning aboard Defender is raised to ‘red’ while another Nato vessel, which is also operating in the Black Sea, suspects that it has been ‘radar-locked’ by a large Russian navy vessel, a precursor perhaps to a missile engagement.
The Crimean coastline is now clearly in view, seafront buildings, forests and hills. More aggressive warnings over the radio from the Russians then a report from observers on the port side upper deck reaches the bridge: ‘Gunfire heard to the stern!’
I rush outside for a better look; an instinctive response but perhaps not the wisest move for a husband and father of three young children. A sailor bearing binoculars reckons cannon fire came from one of the coastguard vessels.
Moments later more cannon fire, two heavy bursts from the lead coastguard vessel. ‘Keep away from me!’ says the Russian coastguard over the radio.
Two Black Sea Fleet coastguard ships continued to shadow HMS Defender from 100 yards awa
Releasing the new footage of HMS Defender from the air, Russian defence ministry’s TV channel Zvezda said: ‘In the footage can be seen the culprit of the incident, the destroyer Defender
Some footage was allegedly shot from the Su-24M which is said to have dropped four bombs to deter the Royal Navy vessel. Above: Su-24Ms seen in the Russian video
Only the Russian sailors know for certain who they were firing at or in what direction. But given their exasperation at being unable to persuade Defender to change its course, we were a likely target, albeit we were out of range.
Defender’s threat state is reduced as we leave Crimean territorial waters, but the closest pass by an SU-24 takes place as we return to international waters. A drone is also spotted far overhead.
The Russian jets were flying ‘wings clean’, meaning they were not carrying missiles. But the aircraft are equipped with high powered cannons which, if armed, could have ripped through Defender’s hull. Both coastguard vessels were equipped with 30mm cannons with live rounds. Other fully armed Russian vessels are also patrolling in our vicinity.
Defender is equipped with a 4.5 inch mark 8 medium calibre gun with a range of 12 miles, two Phalanx close-in weapon systems and Sea Viper air defence missiles with 48 silos at the front of the ship.
The Royal Navy was entirely justified in sailing along an internationally recognised shipping route. But we definitely poked the Russian bear and she poked back. The next time a British warship enters Crimean waters the tension will be even higher.
