Opinion by David A. Andelman
Last week, Russian forces spied the British destroyer HMS Defender on routine patrol in the Black Sea. Specifically, a part of the Black Sea that’s very sensitive to Russia: inside the territorial waters of Crimea. That’s what Putin calls Russian territory, and much of the world still thinks belongs to the sovereign and pro-Western nation of Ukraine.
Matters got a bit sticky when the Defender crossed into Crimea’s territorial waters. The Russian military says it fired warning shots across the bow, and then 11 minutes later, two Su-24M bombers dropped bombs in the path of the ship. No damage was done. But the signal was sent.