British Prime Minister Boris Johnson deserves solid international support for his defiant stand following the Russian navy’s attack on a British warship near Cape Fiolent in the Black Sea off Crimea. As he said on Friday, the Kremlin’s effrontery in targeting the destroyer HMS Defender with gunfire from a Russian warship and fragmentation bombs from a Sukhoi-24 warplane had no justification. Vladimir Putin may huff and puff about waters up to 12 nautical miles off Crimea being part of Russia following the Kremlin’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine. International law, however, does not recognise Moscow’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
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The Australian: Upholding freedom of the seas
The British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Defender arrives in the Black Sea port of Batumi on June 26, 2021. - HMS Defender, makes a port call in Batumi for joint exercises with the NATO-aspirant country's coast guard, according to the Royal Navy, days after Russia claimed it had fired warning shots at the warship in the coastal waters of Crimea.
