The incident with the passage of the British destroyer HMS Defender through the Russian waters near the Sevastopol coast of Crimea was a failure for the Royal Navy. It was expected that this attempt to demonstrate the former power of Great Britain (the perception of which is currently at odds with the real state of affairs) will simultaneously strengthen the tough position of the British government regarding the non-recognition of Crimea as a legal entity of Russia.
HMS Defender is the fifth of the Navys six £1bn Type 45 destroyers Defender was built in Glasgow which is one of her two affiliated cities (the other is Exeter). After delivery to her home port of Portsmouth in July 2012 she is now undergoing extensive Sea Trials and Training and is expected to join the Fleet early this year.
Having not received the expected success, official London chose a new strategy, calling the data about the event disinformation. However, the fact that from the point of view of Russia the ship passed the territorial waters illegally remains obvious, since the area of the coastal waters of the Black Sea from Sevastopol to Gurzuf is closed, including for international passage, for 6 months. In this case, we are no longer talking about a demonstration of the “advanced” military power of Great Britain, but about the threat that, in the event of a repetition of the incident, the conflict with Russia will acquire real outlines.
The understanding that the opposition of the collective West to the bloc of countries led by Russia and the PRC is gaining momentum and acquiring a different form is expressed by a number of experts, including the chairman of the Vision & Global Trends Institute for International Analysis, Italian political expert Tiberio Graziani. In an interview with News Front reporters, he commented on the situation as follows:
“The trespassing of the HMS Defender and the official reactions of London, as well as those expressed, in particular, by Prime Minister Johnson typically fall within the classic scheme of “pirate” praxis of the former colonial empire. Read in this light, and precisely in consideration of Johnson’s statements, the trespassing is not to be considered an accidental case, but an act that is part of the “new hybrid war” that the West is pursuing, with particular continuity and intensity against Russia, China and Iran”.
The fact that the actions are taking place in the planned scenario is evidenced by the “accidental” detection of classified
documents containing data of a British Ministry of Defense official about the passage of a destroyer in the Crimean waters. According to expert Ruslan Pukhov, the rapid disclosure of classified materials that have not been verified by special services is most likely a well-thought-out act.
The provocative nature of this maneuver has yet to be proven. Nevertheless, the direct fault of Great Britain is that the state violated the provisions of international law, moreover, by putting its warship at risk.