DISINFO: UK ship HMS Defender violated Russian territorial waters in Crimea
SUMMARY
On June 23, at 11:52 am, the British destroyer HMS Defender crossed the Russian maritime border in the Black Sea, sailed three kilometres into the territorial waters near Cape Fiolent, in close proximity to the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
In order to prevent the violation of the state border of Russia and the invasion of an unfriendly warship into the territorial waters, the border patrol ship of the FSB of Russia opened artillery fire at the course of the British destroyer, and the front-line bomber of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia, for persuasiveness, dropped four OFAB-250 bombs ahead of a ship's course. After the unambiguous actions, the British left the territorial waters of Russia.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the status of Crimea.
On 23 June, 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.
Russia occupied Crimea in March 2014. No international body has recognised the so-called referendum in Crimea, not the UN, nor the EU or the UK.
The European Union does not recognise and continues to strongly condemn this violation of international law, which remains a challenge to the international security order. This position is based on the UN Charter, which clearly states that the territory of a State cannot be acquired by another State resulting from the threat or use of force, as well as on the Helsinki Final Act in which the signatories declared their intention to respect the inviolability of frontiers and territorial integrity. The UNGA Resolution 68/262, which condemned Russia's illegal actions in Ukraine, was supported by 100 United Nations member states. Only 10 states opposed it.
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 the occupation of Crimea in our database: the Crimea issue is finally closed; following the results of the referendum, Crimea - peacefully and legitimately - became part of Russia; Russia occupied Crimea to keep NATO ships out; the coup d'etat of Maidan caused a referendum that united Crimea with Russia.