VIENNA, June 24. /TASS/. Head of the Russian delegation to the security and arms controls negotiations in Vienna Konstantin Gavrilov warned the UK in the wake of the HMS Defender incident that, next time, bombs will be dropped on the target instead of ahead of it. This statement was made during the June 23 OSCE meeting on cooperation in security and was published on Thursday.

"It is impossible to hide the indignation over the UK Ministry of Defense’s statement that the mentioned destroyer allegedly ‘conducted an innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters.’ I have to warn the ex-‘ruler of the waves,’ that next time, such a decision is taken, bombs will be dropped not ahead of the target, but on the target," Gavrilov said in the statement, published by the Russian delegation.

On Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the Black Sea Fleet and the Federal Security Service border control service thwarted a violation of the Russian border by HMS Defender near Crimea’s Cape Fiolent. The destroyer reportedly traveled 3 kilometers into Russia’s territorial waters. A guard ship fired warning shots, followed by several bombs, dropped from a Su-24M plane ahead of the Defender, after which the destroyer left Russian waters. The Russian Defense Ministry viewed the destroyer’s actions as a blatant violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and called on London to investigate the actions of the crew.