Boris Johnson sticks to guns on Crimea

The British prime minister insisted that it was ­right for the Royal Navy to sail through the waters off Crimea.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Picture: AFP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted that it was ­“entirely right” for the Royal Navy to sail through the waters off Crimea as Russia released footage it claimed offered the first evidence that a warship had fired towards a British destroyer.

Mr Johnson spoke as Britain vowed to continue sailing through the volatile region to ­defend international waters. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 but Western powers still consider it to be part of Ukraine. Russia insists that waters up to 12 nautical miles off Crimea are part of its sovereign territory.

The Russian Navy released a six-minute video from inside the bridge of a Russian boat that ­appeared to show the confrontation with HMS Defender, a ­destroyer that was part of a carrier group making its way to Asia.

The captain of the Russian vessel could be heard making ­repeated warnings that it would open fire on the British. “Change your course to starboard or we will open fire,” the captain said.

“Are you threatening me?” a crew member on the British ship responded. “We are conducting innocent passage. We have the right to do so in accordance with international law.”

The Russians then warned: “The Russian Federation do not have responsibility if your vessel is damaged in this area.” An order was given to “carry out warning fire! Exclude a hit on Defender”.

Moments later the ship’s forward gun is seen firing three shots towards the HMS Defender, ­appearing to aim off its port side. “We will continue to carry out ­operations into international ­waters,” the HMS Defender crew member said after the smoke cleared.

The footage appeared to offer the first evidence to support ­Moscow’s claim that it had fired a series of warning shots while HMS Defender was sailing in the Black Sea on Wednesday.

The Kremlin said that a SU-24 warplane had also dropped four bombs near the destroyer to force it to leave the area. While jets were visible in the footage, there were no images of bombs landing in the path of the warship.

Britain had denied Moscow’s account of the incident, saying that no shots were fired or bombs dropped. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace called the Russian claims “disinformation”.

When asked how Russia would respond to future “incursions” by British ships, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said: “We can appeal to common sense and demand ­respect for international law. If this does not help, we may bomb, not just in the path but also the target.”

The Kremlin called the presence of HMS Defender a “deliberate and prepared provocation”. It said the use of force could not be ruled out.

Russia’s warning came as France and Germany were criticised for calling for an EU summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin during Thursday’s meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

US President Joe Biden and Mr Putin met last week in Geneva. “We as the European Union must also seek direct contact with Russia,” Chancellor ­Angela Merkel told German MPs. Russia welcomed the proposal.

The EU has not held a summit with Mr Putin since he sent troops to annex Crimea in 2014. Moscow also deployed troops to eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region, where pro-Russian separatists have carved out two people’s republics.

The French and German summit proposal was met with anger and dismay in former Soviet states in the Baltics, as well as in Ukraine.

“Initiatives to resume EU summits with Russia without seeing any progress from the Russian side will be a dangerous deviation from EU sanctions policy,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

The Times