Mikhail Popov, who was appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin as deputy secretary of the Security Council in March 2020, told a state newspaper in Moscow that “similar actions will be thwarted by the harshest methods” . Addressing the Rossiiyskaya Gazeta, Popov said: “We suggest our opponents to seriously consider whether to organize such provocations given the capabilities of the Russian armed forces.”
“It is not members of the British government who will be on board ships and ships used for provocation purposes,” he added.
“It is in this context,” Popov asserted, “that I want to ask a question of the same Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab – what will they say to the families of British sailors who will be injured in the same of these“ big ”ideas? ”.
Popov’s warnings follow a similar threat made by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
After the incident involving HMS Defender in June, Ryabkov said: “What can we do? We can use common sense, demand respect for international law.
“If that doesn’t help, we can bomb not only in the direction but also on the target, if our colleagues don’t understand.
“I warn all those who violate the state borders of the Russian Federation under the slogan of free navigation, such provocative measures, because the security of our country comes first. “
London argued that although the Type 45 destroyer sailed within the 12 mile limit off Crimea near Cape Fiolent, it did so under internationally recognized rules of freedom of navigation in the territorial waters of the ‘Ukraine.
But the status of owner of the water is hotly contested between Moscow and Kiev.
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After Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, the Kremlin argued that the peninsula belonged to Moscow.
However, most countries, including the UK, continue to recognize the Black Sea coastline of Crimea as Ukrainian.
Despite stern warnings, UK Environment Secretary George Eustice said the Royal Navy would continue “of course” to sail around Crimea and reiterated that these waters are Ukrainian because Britain “did not” never accepted the annexation of Crimea ”.
Speaking about the incident last month, the cabinet minister stressed: “Under international law, you can take the nearest and quickest route from one point to another. HMS Defender was passing through Ukrainian waters, I think on its way to Georgia, and that was the logical route it had to take.
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Eustice’s Tory colleague Tobias Ellwood, however, admitted that it was a “dangerous game” for the Royal Navy to navigate the disputed waters.
The ex-secretary of defense, former lieutenant colonel in the British army and now chairman of the Commons defense select committee, told the BBC: it takes a little while before someone catches that red phone and calm things down ”.
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