MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. Moscow will take appropriate measures at the diplomatic level in the wake of the incident in the Black Sea involving a British destroyer, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
"It is better to address [this question] to the Foreign Ministry. You know that there were contacts with British diplomats and military diplomats there," he said, responding to the question whether Russia would apply to international organizations in connection with the incident. "Of course, Russia will do what it should do in this situation through diplomatic channels."
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier told reporters at a press briefing that Moscow views the British warship’s actions in the Black Sea as a gross provocation and that British Ambassador to Russia Deborah Bronnert would be summoned to Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
On Wednesday, 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 described the British warship's actions as a gross violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and urged the UK to investigate the crew's actions.