Choppy waters ahead for UK and NATO in the Black Sea (Opinion)
HMS Defender in the Ukrainian port of Odessa, June 2021. (Photo: British Embassy, Kiev)
NATO planners face a tricky challenge from a riled and increasingly assertive Russia in the Black Sea — but they cannot afford to back down.
The UK RN made global headlines in late June when reports claimed that the Russian armed forces had fired warning shots at HMS Defender in the Black Sea, while the Type 45 destroyer was en route to a Ukrainian port.
The situation quickly became an information battle between the UK and Russian governments, both equally keen to push their version of the truth. Russian claims of shots being fired at the ship were quickly disproven by the UK, which had journalists embarked onboard for the voyage.
Although the incident calmed down almost as quickly as it had started, it is
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