MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. British Ambassador to Russia Deborah Bronnert has been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday over the incident with the British destroyer HMS Defender in the Black Sea, and a tough demarche will be delivered to her, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Rossiya-24 TV channel.
"We said yesterday that the British envoy would be summoned. She will be in the Foreign Ministry today. A tough demarche will be issued to her," Zakharova stated.
The diplomat stressed that the upcoming meeting would be unpleasant for the British side. "Such rude moves should receive a respective response," Zakharova pointed out.
Zakharova also drew attention to the contradictions in the British side’s interpretation of the situation.
"At first, they said that there was nothing at all. Later it was stated that the Russian side was reporting the events incorrectly, and then they started speaking about some innocent passage of [the destroyer]," she explained.
A BBC reporter shared some facts with the corporation, which he saw and heard with his own eyes and ears. "Some weird situation occurred and here it’s evident that [London] lies. But we often see and catch our Western partners red-handed. Apparently, London is the best performer here."
On June 23, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Black Sea Fleet, acting in cooperation with the border guard force of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), stopped a violation of the state border by the British destroyer HMS Defender off Crimea's Cape Fiolent. The destroyer ventured three kilometers into Russia's territorial waters. A border guard patrol ship fired warning shots and a Sukhoi-24M bomber dropped bombs ahead of the destroyer. After that, the HMS Defender left Russia's territorial waters.
The Russian Defense Ministry later described the British ship's actions as a gross violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and urged the British side to investigate the crew's actions.