Putin says UK warship in Crimean waters wanted to test Russia's response
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that a British warship that entered its territory in Crimean waters “illegally” earlier in June did so in order to observe the Russian military's response.
"This was a provocation, of course," Putin said in a broadcast on state television.
"(But) 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 Three," he said.
According to reports, Russia summoned the British ambassador in Moscow for a formal diplomatic scolding after the warship breached what it deems its territorial waters. The UK government claims that the waters belong to Ukraine.
The controversy surrounds Russia’s internationally unrecognised annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.