Russia summons UK ambassador over Black Sea Fleet drone strike
Moscow will summon the UK ambassador to Russia Deborah Bronnert over its baseless accusation that British specialists had been involved in an alleged Ukrainian drone strike on its Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.
The foreign ministry announced the intervention after it suspended participation in a UN-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative on Saturday for what it claimed was a major drone attack on vessels in the Bay of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula – an area the Kremlin annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Russia‘s defence ministry said the attack was carried out under the guidance and leadership of British navy specialists, an assertion the UK has dismissed as false.
“These actions were carried out under the guidance of British specialists,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
“In this regard, the British ambassador will shortly be summoned to the Russian foreign ministry.”
It comes as the UN Security Council is set to vote today on calls for a commission to probe Russia’s claims that Ukraine and the US are carrying out “military biological” activities that violate the convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons.
