MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has cautioned against drawing "conceptual conclusions" regarding future relations between Moscow and London, commenting on the incident with the British destroyer in the Black Sea.
"Let’s refrain from drawing such conceptual conclusions. We do regret that such an incident took place, and we regret that it was obviously prepared. However, we would not like to portray this as a trend. We would not even like to assume that such provocations may become systematic," he told reporters on Thursday when asked whether Russia can consider Britain its partner after the incident.
Peskov also noted that he was unaware of Britain’s potential inclusion in the list of the countries that are unfriendly to Russia because of this incident. "I know nothing about this," he said.
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 London to investigate the crew's actions.