DISINFO: British military ship Defender deliberately entered into Russian territorial waters in June 2021
SUMMARY
The British military ship Defender deliberately entered into Russian territorial waters in June 2021.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the June 2021 HMS Defender warship incident.
On 23 June 2021, the British warship HMS Defender was in transit on a commonly followed route in the Black Sea from the port of Odesa in Ukraine to Georgia, where the destroyer was due to dock.
The HMS Defender transited 12 miles offshore in the waters of Crimea, a territory illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 in a referendum that was not recognised by the UN, nor the EU, or the UK, or any international body.
Russia has described the transit through Ukrainian waters as a violation of its territorial waters and sovereign laws, but the passage of the HMS Defender through the waters off Cape Fiolent on the Southern tip of Crimea is allowed under international law: Russia's accusation is based on the assumption that its self-asserted right over Crimean territory is recognised, but neither Ukraine nor the international community currently recognises Crimea as Russian territory.
Russia's illegitimate control over the territories of the Crimean peninsula has manifestly extended to the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov, where military incidents have occurred.
Read similar cases claiming that UK ship HMS Defender violated Russian territorial waters in Crimea, that HMS Defender deliberately entered Russian territorial waters violating Russia’s laws and that Russia occupied Crimea to keep NATO ships out.