Let's bomb: What signal did Russian pilots send to the West in Crimea

Four OFAB-250, dropped by a Russian Su-24M bomber in front of the British Navy destroyer Defender, had the effect of an exploding bomb. Informational. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the Russian and British navies faced the real prospect of starting hostilities with each other. And, judging by the nervous reaction from London, there were not quite ready for such a tough response, clearly counting on "concerns." What conclusions should be drawn from what happened, and what should we prepare for next?

On the eve of HMS Defender demonstratively violated the maritime border of Russia. A British warship, en route from Ukrainian Odessa to Georgian Batumi, entered a 12-mile zone near the Crimean Cape Fiolent near the hero city of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is known to be based. Despite warnings about the need to stop the violation, Defender, turning on all onboard weapons systems and preparing for battle, continued to move deep into the Russian territorial sea. Because of this, the patrol ship was forced to open warning fire, and when this did not work, one of the Su-24 URO flying over the destroyer dropped four high-explosive fragmentation bombs along its course. This worked, and after a few minutes the "Briton" retreated. Subsequently, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation summoned the military attache of the United Kingdom and gave him a "stick" for violating the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation summoned the British ambassador for a "tough demarche", and the Crimean authorities urged to add Britain to the list of countries unfriendly to Russia.



However, the British version is somewhat different. According to the Kingdom's Ministry of Defense, HMS Defender was sailing in internationally recognized Ukrainian waters, and the fact of shelling and bombing in London is denied:


Let us emphasize that the journalist of the famous British TV channel BBC, who, by an amazing coincidence, was aboard the warship at that time, confirmed that his captain deliberately went along this route in order to "demonstrate our position to Russia." Well, they did, but it turned out somehow not very convincing. Let's try to formulate those foreign policy goals that London is openly trying to achieve.

At first, the British show that Crimea is still a breaking point in relations between Russia and the West. Formally, foreign warships have the right to pass through the territorial waters of our country, but with its permission. There is also a clause that entry into the water area where naval exercises are underway is prohibited. The Russian fleet was at that time there, and all interested parties were notified of this in advance. However, London, in principle, refuses to consider Crimea as Russian, which means, in the opinion of the British, their destroyer was sailing through the Ukrainian territorial waters, and they refuse to consider themselves guilty of something. It is clear that the United Kingdom deliberately went to the provocation, and the presence of a BBC journalist on board the HMS Defender was not accidental. Apparently, the passions for the Skripals have long tired and forgotten everyone, so the British decided to add fuel to the fire of Russophobia.

The most interesting thing is that the final addressee of this message, apparently, was not even Moscow, but Beijing. The fact is that Great Britain is openly trying to regain its status, if not "mistress of the seas", then at least "co-owner". London in the very near future intends to send its brand new aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth to the South China Sea, which should be escorted by HMS Defender. The BBC and The Guardian are now telling their audiences about this:


Well, perhaps the British may face new unpleasant surprises on their way to "free shipping".

Secondly, yesterday's provocation also had a pronounced military significance. The URO destroyer went completely ready for battle and recorded all the actions of our Black Sea men and the Russian Aerospace Forces. And the day before the described events in Odessa, a memorandum on joint British-Ukrainian military cooperation was signed on board the HMS Defender. London will help Kiev with the construction of new warships, the reconstruction of shipyards, and the opening of two new naval bases for the Ukrainian Navy. Experts express fears that Mariupol may be chosen for these purposes, which means that the Sea of ​​Azov and the Kerch Strait will become points of permanent military tension between Russia, Ukraine and Great Britain, which, by the way, is a nuclear power and is part of the NATO bloc.

In general, little pleasant is expected. That is why one has only to welcome the extremely tough reaction of the RF Ministry of Defense to the border provocation. The fact is that she is not the first. In the fall of 2020, the destroyer HMS Dragon committed a similar violation of the Russian border. Then it was possible to force him to leave only with the forces of our aviation and fleet, but there was no shooting. And almost a year later, I still had to shoot and bomb a little. The problem was that our Western partners relaxed too much because of Moscow's overly soft position with its "concerns" and "confusion", which created a bad intrigue as to how Russia would react to an attempt by a NATO warship to violate the borders of Crimea. Fortunately, our military gave an unequivocal answer to this question, and the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Ryabkov bluntly stated the following:


Yes, it is better to dispel all doubts right now than to sink the Ukrainian and British ships for real, with numerous human casualties. And the Chinese comrades should take note of this experience when Queen Elizabeth tries to enter the territorial waters that Beijing considers its own.