Putin Says Sinking UK Destroyer Would Not Have Caused World War 3
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: June 30th, 2021 02:30PM UTC
Last Modified: June 30th, 2021 02:30PM UTC
MOSCOW - Putin has put out a statement saying that it's not likely that the "world would have been on the verge of World War Three" if Russia had decided to sink the British destroyer near Crimea and said, "Firstly, it was certainly a provocation, it is obvious that it is a provocation".
"You have said that the world was on the verge of the world war. Of course not. Even if we had sunk the British destroyer near Crimea it is unlikely that the world would have been on the verge of World War Three. Those who do it know that they can not emerge the winners of this war," he added.
According to Putin, the British type 45 destroyer, the HMS Defender entered waters owned by Russia with the intent to test the response time of Russian forces.
He also said that the warship was operating together with a U.S. spy plane to aid in testing the Russian military's response time. "This was a provocation, of course", he declared.
"It was clear that the destroyer (entered our waters) first of all to pursue military goals, attempting with the help of the reconnaissance aircraft to reveal the actions of our military to stop such provocations."
One must ask why it was necessary to carry out such a provocation. Why is all this being done? In order to emphasize that these people do not respect the choice of Crimeans to join the Russian Federation".
Putin also said that meeting with the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky is pointless as long as Washington, Berlin and Paris are in 'control' of Ukrainian affairs, stating that Zelensky had 'given up his country to full external control'.
"What is there do discuss?" Putin said. "I'm not refusing (To meet up with him), I just need to understand what to talk about".
Meanwhile, the UK continues to deny entering Russian waters and claim that the warning shots and bombs being dropped ahead of their destroyer didn't happen, despite of the video released by Russia that show otherwise.
