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DISINFO: UK destroyer entered Russian waters and only left after warning shots

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

AI translations:

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Black Sea Provocation Military exercise Military Anti-Russian Ukrainian statehood International Law

DISINFO: UK destroyer entered Russian waters and only left after warning shots

SUMMARY

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the British destroyer "Defender" entered Russian territorial waters off the coast of Crimea and left after a Russian border patrol ship fired warning shots, and a SU-24M aircraft dropped warning bombs on the destroyer's sailing line.

RESPONSE

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the status of Crimea and the passage of HMS Defender through waters near Crimea.

On 23 June 2021, the UK Ministry of Defence Press Office stated that "the Royal Navy ship [was] conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law."

It also added that the ship "carried out a routine transit from Odesa towards Georgia across the Black Sea" through internationally recognised Ukrainian territorial waters.

The UK Ministry of Defence also denied the claims that the HMS Defender has been fired on.

The crew of HMS Defender maneuvered the vessel in strict observance of international protocol. By passing near Crimea, the Defender was exercising the right of innocent passage, as laid down in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Articles 17-19 of the Convention allow for passage through another state's territorial sea, provided it is "continuous and expeditious" and "not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State" (pp. 30-1).

Innocent passage is one of several qualifications on the absolute sovereignty of a coastal state over its territorial waters. This means that a vessel exercising this right within the meaning of the Convention does not need to seek permission of the coastal state. This, according to a leading maritime law scholar, "makes it irrelevant to which state the territory in question belongs".

See this article by POLYGRAPH.info for additional debunking and earlier examples of Moscow's misleading coverage of maritime incidents in the Black Sea.

Russia has occupied Crimea in March 2014, and so far no international body has recognised the so-called referendum in Crimea thus illegal annexation of the area, not the UN, nor the EU or the UK. The UK's Ambassador Neil Bush mentioned at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in March 2021 that Crimea was blatantly occupied by the Russian military "in violation of its OSCE principles and commitments."

See similar disinformation cases about this incident such as UK Destroyer entered Russian waters and only left after warning shots and about the occupation of Crimea such as the Crimea issue is finally closed following the results of the referendum, Crimea - peacefully and legitimately - became part of Russia; or that Russia occupied Crimea to keep NATO ships out; or that the alleged coup d'etat of Maidan caused a referendum that united Crimea with Russia.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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