Putin says UK warship sought to test Russia's military response

MOSCOW • A British warship that Russia says illegally entered its territorial waters near Crimea last month did so to observe in detail how Russian forces would react, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday.

Russia summoned the British ambassador in Moscow for a formal diplomatic scolding after the warship, HMS Defender, breached what the Kremlin says are its territorial waters but which Britain and most of the world say belong to Ukraine.

London has said the destroyer followed an internationally recognised corridor on its way from Ukraine to Georgia and denied that a stand-off with Russian forces took place - even as Moscow said it would bomb trespassing vessels next time. Russia annexed Crimea - which hosts its Black Sea navy base - from Ukraine in 2014, prompting sanctions from the West.

"This was a provocation, of course," Mr Putin said during a live question and answer session broadcast by state television.

"It was obvious that the destroyer entered (the waters near Crimea) pursuing, first of all, military goals, trying to use a reconnaissance aircraft to discover how our forces would stop such provocations, to see what happens on our side, how things work and where everything is located."

Mr Putin said Russia - which said its forces fired warning shots at the British destroyer and dropped bombs in its path - responded in such a way that would give the other side only the information that Moscow wanted them to have. Mr Putin also said he saw a political component in the incident, which took place shortly after he met United States President Joe Biden in Geneva.

"The meeting in Geneva had just happened, so why was this provocation needed, what was its goal? To underscore that those people do not respect Crimeans' choice to join the Russian Federation."

At the same time, Mr Putin played down the severity of the incident's potential consequences. "Even if we had sunk the British destroyer near Crimea, it is unlikely that the world would have been on the verge of World War III," he said.

However, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman said yesterday Britain's warship acted in accordance with international law. "I've said all along this Royal Navy ship was conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law."

Meanwhile, Mr Putin said the time would come when he would name his possible successor in the Kremlin, but said the choice would ultimately lie with voters.

Mr Putin, 68, has been in power as president or prime minister since the turn of the century. His current six-year term in the Kremlin is due to end in 2024 and his remarks are being closely parsed for clues as to whether he plans to extend his rule.

Russia changed its Constitution last year at Mr Putin's behest, allowing him to run for two more six-year terms in the Kremlin, and potentially remain president until 2036.

"A time will come when, I hope, I can say that such and such a person is worthy in my opinion of leading such a wonderful country like Russia, our homeland," Mr Putin said.

Mr Alexei Chesnakov, a political analyst who used to work in the presidential administration, wrote on Telegram messenger: "A signal. There will be a successor."

Separately, Mr Putin said he had received the domestically made Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine.

"I thought that I needed to be protected for as long as possible. So I chose to be vaccinated with Sputnik V. The military is getting vaccinated with Sputnik V, and after all I'm the commander-in-chief," he said.

REUTERS