LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said on Thursday that people should not get “carried away” by an incident in which Russia said it fired warning shots at a British destroyer in the Black Sea, adding that such gunnery exercise events were not particularly abnormal.
Britain has tried to play down the incident and disputed Russia’s account of the incident, saying no warning shots had been fired and that no bombs had been dropped in the path of HMS Defender.
“I don’t think there is anything in this particular event that people should get too carried away by,” Environment Secretary George Eustice told Sky.
“I don’t think there were warning shots, there was a gunnery exercise that was taking place, and it’s not uncommon for the Russians to do this in this area. The incident is not particularly abnormal in that sense.”
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kate Holton)
