Putin reported new details of the border violation by a British destroyer
The United States was behind the provocation of the British destroyer Defender off the coast of Crimea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said this today during a “direct line”, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“This is, of course, a provocation. What did these provocateurs want to show and what goals were they trying to achieve? Firstly, it was comprehensive and was carried out not only by the British, but also by the Americans. Because the British entered our terrorist waters during the day, and early in the morning, at 7.30, an American strategic reconnaissance aircraft 63/9792 flew in from one of the NATO military airfields in Greece, from Crete, we saw it well, observed it,” Putin said .
According to him, the Russian Black Sea conducted a reconnaissance game with the British and Americans.
“It was obvious that the destroyer entered, pursuing, firstly, military goals, trying, with the help of a reconnaissance aircraft, to reveal the actions of our armed forces to suppress such provocations. We looked at what is turned on where, how it works, where everything is located. We saw and knew this, so we provided such information as we considered necessary. Maybe I let it slip - the military will excuse me. This is the first,” Putin said.
He believes that the provocation largely cast doubt on the outcome of the meeting with US President Joe Biden in Geneva.
“Secondly, this is the political component. A meeting had just taken place a few days before in Geneva. The question arises: why was such a provocation carried out? Why is this all being done? In order to emphasize that these people have no respect for the choice of Crimeans to join the Russian Federation? Is there something they don't admit there? “Okay, don’t admit it further, why carry out provocations of this kind?” – Putin said.
He does not believe that the actions of the Black Sea Fleet have brought the world to the brink of a nuclear conflict.
“Even if we sank this ship, it would be difficult to imagine that the world would be on the brink of a world war. Because those who do this know that they cannot emerge victorious from this war. This is a very important thing. I don’t think that we would be happy with the development of events that you are talking about, but at least we know what we are fighting for. We are fighting for ourselves, for our future, on our own territory.
It wasn’t us who came to them thousands of kilometers away, flew in and came by water. It was they who approached our borders and violated our territorial sea. And this is an essential element in this entire structure,” Putin said.
At the same time, he regards the Defender provocation as an inadequate response to the withdrawal of Russian troops from the border with Ukraine.
“Look, they made a big fuss about the fact that we were conducting exercises on our territory, near the Ukrainian borders. Well, I gave instructions to the Ministry of Defense to quietly finish it and withdraw the troops. If anyone cares that much. We did it. But instead of reacting positively to this and saying, “okay, okay, we understand your reaction to our outrage,” what did they do instead? They are close to our borders,” Putin said.
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