Russia says warning shots deter UK warship; London denies it

MOSCOW — The Russian military said one of its warships in the Black Sea fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs Wednesday to force a British destroyer away from an area near Crimea that Moscow claims as its territorial waters , but Britain denied that account and insisted its ship wasn’t fired upon.

It was the first time since the Cold War that Moscow has claimed to have used live ammunition to deter a NATO warship, reflecting the growing risk of military incidents amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West.

The Russian Defense Ministry said a patrol ship fired warning shots after the British destroyer HMS Defender had ignored a notice against intrusion and sailed 3 kilometers (1.6 nautical miles) into Russia’s territorial waters near Sevastopol, the main Russian naval base in Crimea. It said a Russian Su-24 bomber also dropped four bombs ahead of the British ship’s path to persuade it to change course. Minutes later, the British warship left the Russian waters, the ministry said.

The Defense Ministry said it summoned the U.K. military attache in Moscow to protest the British destroyer’s “dangerous move” as a “crude violation” of international maritime law. It urged British authorities to investigate its crew’s actions to “prevent such incidents in the future.”

Britain’s Ministry of Defense denied the Defender had been fired on or was in Russian waters.

“No warning shots have been fired at HMS Defender,” it said in a statement. “The Royal Navy ship is conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.”

Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, a move that was not recognized by most countries, gaining access to the peninsula’s long Black Sea coast. Russia has frequently chafed at NATO warships visits near Crimea, casting them as destabilizing. In April, it declared a broader sea area off Crimea closed to foreign naval ships.

“We believe the Russians were undertaking a gunnery exercise in the Black Sea and provided the maritime community with prior warning of their activity,” the British Ministry of Defense said. “No shots were directed at HMS Defender and we do not recognize the claim that bombs were dropped in her path.”

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the U.K. vessel “carried out a routine transit from Odessa towards Georgia across the Black Sea.”

“As is normal for this route, she entered an internationally recognized traffic separation corridor,” he said on Twitter, adding that HMS Defender exited the corridor safely at 9:45 a.m. BST (0845 GMT; 4:45 a.m. EDT).

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015 file photo and provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, a Russian Su-24 bomber lands at Hemeimeem air base in Syria. The Russian military says its warship has fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs to force a British destroyer from Russia's waters near Crimea in the Black Sea. The incident on Wednesday June 23, 2021, marks the first time since the Cold War era when Moscow used live ammunition to deter a NATO warship, reflecting soaring Russia-West tensions. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)

“As is routine, Russian vessels shadowed her passage and she was made aware of training exercises in her wider vicinity,” he added.

Wallace said Britain’s ambassador in Moscow had been summoned by Russian authorities. Speaking to Parliament’s defense committee, Wallace again denied Russia’s version of events.

“These are the things that come and go with Russia,” he said. “Disinformation, misinformation is something that we have seen regularly. We’re not surprised by it; we plan for it.”

Asked if the crew of HMS Defender had seen or heard anything, he said “initial reports say they did hear or observe training noises somewhere to the rear of her but beyond visual range.”

“We saw the reports this morning,” said Max Blain, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson. “It’s incorrect to say either that it was fired on or this ship was in Russian waters. HMS Defender was taking the most direct and internationally recognized route between Ukraine and Georgia.”

He emphasized that Britain, along with much of the international community, does not recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the incident was “a clear proof of Ukraine’s position: Russia’s aggressive and provocative actions in the Black and Azov seas, its occupation and militarization of Crimea pose a lasting threat to Ukraine and allies.” “We need a new quality of cooperation between Ukraine & NATO allies in the Black Sea,” Kuleba tweeted.

HMS Defender, a Type 45 destroyer, is part of the U.K. Carrier Strike Group currently heading to the Indo-Pacific region. However, it was announced earlier this month that it would be temporarily breaking away from the group to carry out its “own set of missions” in the Black Sea.

NATO members Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria all are on the Black Sea. Warships from the U.S., U.K. and other NATO allies also have made increasingly frequent visits in a show of support for Ukraine.

Speaking just before the incident, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, sharply criticized the deployment of NATO warships near Russian waters.

“The moves by warships of the U.S. and its allies have been clearly provocative,” Gerasimov said at an international security conference in Moscow organized by the Defense Ministry. “It creates preconditions for incidents and doesn’t help ease tensions in the military sphere.”

He charged that the British destroyer HMS Dragon intruded into Russian waters near Crimea in October, and the U.S. destroyer John S. McCain violated the Russian border in the Sea of Japan in November.

In April, Russia imposed restrictions on foreign navy ships’ movements near Crimea until November 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 bolstered its troops near the border with Ukraine and warned Ukrainian authorities against using force to reclaim control of the country’s eastern industrial heartland, where a conflict with Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 14,000 people in seven years. Moscow withdrew some of its forces after maneuvers, but Ukrainian officials say the bulk of them have remained.

Speaking earlier Wednesday via video to participants of a Moscow security conference, President Vladimir Putin expressed concern about the deployment of NATO’s forces near Russia.

“We aren’t striving for a decisive, unilateral military advantage to tip the balance of forces in our favor,” Putin said. “But we will never allow anyone else to tip that balance.”

Russia’s relations with the West have sunk to the lowest levels since the Cold War, following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, accusations of Russian interference with elections, hacking attacks and other tensions.

In a speech at the same conference before Wednesday’s incident, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said “the situation in Europe is explosive,” and accused NATO of stonewalling Russian proposals to enhance security by refraining from holding military exercises near the borders of Russia and the alliance members.

He warned that “the world is rapidly sinking in a new confrontation, which is much more dangerous than during the Cold War times.”

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed.

莫斯科——俄罗斯军方称，周三，其一艘在黑海的军舰鸣枪示警，一架战机投下炸弹，迫使一艘英国驱逐舰离开克里米亚附近莫斯科声称拥有领海的区域。但英国否认了这一说法，并坚称其军舰没有遭到炮击。

这是冷战以来莫斯科首次声称使用实弹威慑北约军舰，反映出在俄罗斯与西方之间紧张局势不断升级的情况下，军事事件的风险日益增加。

俄罗斯国防部称，英国驱逐舰“捍卫者”号无视入侵警告，驶入克里米亚塞瓦斯托波尔附近俄罗斯领海3公里（1.6海里）后，一艘俄罗斯巡逻舰鸣枪示警。塞瓦斯托波尔是俄罗斯在克里米亚的主要海军基地。俄罗斯国防部还表示，一架苏-24轰炸机向英国军舰前方投掷了四枚炸弹，以迫使其改变航向。几分钟后，英国军舰离开了俄罗斯水域。

国防部表示，已召见英国驻莫斯科武官，抗议英国驱逐舰的“危险举动”，称其“粗暴违反”了国际海洋法。国防部敦促英国当局调查其船员的行为，以“防止此类事件再次发生”。

英国国防部否认“捍卫者”装甲车曾遭到炮击或位于俄罗斯水域。

声明称：“没有向‘捍卫者’号驱逐舰鸣枪示警。这艘皇家海军舰艇正在按照国际法规定，无害通过乌克兰领海。”

2014年，俄罗斯吞并了乌克兰的克里米亚半岛，这一举动并未得到大多数国家的承认，俄罗斯由此获得了该半岛漫长的黑海海岸线的控制权。俄罗斯经常对北约军舰访问克里米亚附近海域表示不满，认为这些访问会破坏当地稳定。今年4月，俄罗斯宣布克里米亚附近更大范围的海域禁止外国海军舰艇进入。

英国国防部表示：“我们认为俄罗斯当时正在黑海进行炮击演习，并事先向海上界发出了警告。‘捍卫者’号驱逐舰没有遭到任何炮击，我们也不承认有关在其航线上投掷炸弹的说法。”

英国国防大臣本·华莱士表示，这艘英国军舰“从敖德萨经黑海前往格鲁吉亚进行了一次例行航行”。

“按照这条航线的惯例，她进入了国际公认的交通分离走廊，”他在推特上说，并补充说，英国皇家海军“捍卫者”号于英国夏令时上午 9:45（格林尼治标准时间 08:45；美国东部时间凌晨 4:45）安全驶出走廊。

（档案照片）2015年12月16日，星期三，俄罗斯国防部新闻处提供的照片显示，一架俄罗斯苏-24轰炸机降落在叙利亚赫梅米姆空军基地。俄罗斯军方称，其军舰鸣枪示警，一架战机投弹，迫使一艘英国驱逐舰离开黑海克里米亚附近的俄罗斯水域。此次事件发生在2021年6月23日星期三，是冷战以来莫斯科首次使用实弹威慑北约军舰，反映出俄美关系日益紧张。（俄罗斯国防部新闻处供图，美联社，档案照片）

“按照惯例，俄罗斯舰艇跟踪了她的航行，并让她了解了在她附近海域进行的训练演习，”他补充道。

华莱士表示，英国驻莫斯科大使已被俄罗斯当局召见。在议会国防委员会作证时，华莱士再次否认了俄罗斯方面对事件的说法。

他说：“这些都是俄罗斯惯常的做法。虚假信息和错误信息我们经常遇到。我们对此并不感到意外；我们对此早有准备。”

当被问及“捍卫者”号上的船员是否看到或听到什么时，他说：“初步报告显示，他们确实听到或观察到在舰艇后方某处有训练噪音，但超出了视线范围。”

“我们今天早上看到了相关报道，”英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊的发言人马克斯·布莱恩说。“说这艘船遭到炮击或者当时在俄罗斯水域都是不正确的。‘捍卫者’号当时正沿着乌克兰和格鲁吉亚之间最直接、国际公认的航线航行。”

他强调，英国​​和国际社会的大部分国家一样，不承认俄罗斯吞并克里米亚。

乌克兰外交部长德米特罗·库列巴表示，此次事件“清楚地证明了乌克兰的立场：俄罗斯在黑海和亚速海的侵略性和挑衅性行动，以及其对克里米亚的占领和军事化，对乌克兰及其盟友构成了持久威胁。”库列巴在推特上写道：“我们需要乌克兰与北约盟国在黑海地区建立更高水平的合作。”

“捍卫者”号（HMS Defender）是一艘45型驱逐舰，隶属于目前正前往印太地区的英国航母打击群。然而，本月初宣布该舰将暂时脱离航母打击群，前往黑海执行其“自身任务”。

北约成员国土耳其、罗马尼亚和保加利亚都位于黑海沿岸。美国、英国和其他北约盟国的军舰也越来越频繁地访问黑海地区，以示对乌克兰的支持。

事件发生前不久，俄罗斯武装部队总参谋长瓦列里·格拉西莫夫将军严厉批评了北约军舰在俄罗斯水域附近的部署。

格拉西莫夫在莫斯科举行的由国防部主办的国际安全会议上表示：“美国及其盟国的军舰行动显然具有挑衅性。这为冲突事件的发生创造了条件，无助于缓解军事领域的紧张局势。”

他指控英国驱逐舰“龙”号于10月侵入克里米亚附近的俄罗斯水域，美国驱逐舰“约翰·S·麦凯恩”号于11月在日本海侵犯俄罗斯边界。

今年4月，俄罗斯对外国海军舰艇在克里米亚附近海域的活动实施限制，直至11月。此举引发乌克兰和西方国家的强烈抗议。俄罗斯驳斥了这些批评，并指出这些限制不会影响商业航运。

今年早些时候，俄罗斯也加强了在乌克兰边境附近的兵力部署，并警告乌克兰当局不要动用武力夺回该国东部工业中心地带的控制权。在该地区，与俄罗斯支持的分离主义分子的冲突已造成七年内超过14000人死亡。莫斯科在进行军事演习后撤回了部分兵力，但乌克兰官员表示，大部分兵力仍然驻扎在那里。

周三早些时候，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京通过视频向莫斯科安全会议的与会者发表讲话，对北约在俄罗斯附近部署部队表示担忧。

普京说：“我们并不追求单方面取得决定性的军事优势来扭转力量平衡，但我们也绝不允许任何其他国家来打破这种平衡。”

在莫斯科吞并克里米亚、俄罗斯被指控干预选举、黑客攻击以及其他紧张局势之后，俄罗斯与西方的关系已经跌至冷战以来的最低水平。

在周三事件发生前，国防部长谢尔盖·绍伊古在同一会议上发表讲话称“欧洲局势一触即发”，并指责北约阻挠俄罗斯提出的加强安全的提议，拒绝在俄罗斯与北约成员国边境附近举行军事演习。

他警告说，“世界正迅速陷入一场新的对抗，这比冷战时期危险得多。”

美联社驻伦敦记者吉尔·劳利斯对此文亦有贡献。