Russia will directly bomb HMS Defender if it sails too close to Crimea again, its deputy foreign minister warns as MP Tobias Ellwood says tensions could spiral into an actual engagement after Black Sea stand-off

A top Russian official has vowed to bomb a British warship the next time it sails too close to Crimea after warning shots were fired at HMS Defender on Wednesday.

The British Type 45 destroyer sailed within the 12-mile limit of Crimea near Cape Fiolent in the Black Sea which Russia claims as its own territory but the West sees as international waters.

After the flashpoint, which saw 20 Su-24s buzzing over the Royal Navy vessel, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov warned: ‘What can we do? We can appeal to common sense, demand respect for international law.

‘If this does not help, we can bomb not only in the direction but also on target, if our colleagues do not understand.

‘I warn everyone violating the state borders of the Russian Federation under the slogan of free navigation, from such provocative steps, because the security of our country comes first.’

His comments come as Britain’s Chair of the Defence Select Committee, Tobias Ellwood, admitted it is a ‘dangerous game’ to provoke Russia and other powers by sailing in disputed waters.

The former Defence Secretary told BBC 4: ‘There’s huge scope for an accident to occur, misinterpretation, leading to an actual kinetic engagement and it could be a bit of time before somebody grabs that red phone and calms things down.’

Russia claimed to have shot at HMS Defender, and to have dropped four bombs from an Su-24M warplane in waters ahead of the Royal Navy vessel.

Britain has denied the Russian version, and insists HMS Defender was either in Ukrainian or international waters at all times.

Britain, like other Western countries, does not accept Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea by military force as being legitimate in law.

But Ryabkov said today: ‘We are outraged by their [the UK’s] behaviour, and we would like to note that balancing on the brink of confrontation is fraught with very serious consequences for those who plan such events and then try to carry them out.’

The diplomat said: ‘This is a very serious situation, we condemn the actions of the British side.’

He said: ‘The territorial integrity of the Russian Federation is inviolable.

‘The inviolability of its borders is an absolute imperative, and we will protect all this both through political-diplomatic and, when necessary, military methods.’

Meanwhile a former Royal Navy chief accused Vladimir Putin of ‘playing to the home audience’ after Moscow’s bold claims of its use of force against HMS Defender.

Lord Alan West, former Chief of Defence Intelligence, Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Security and Counter-Terrorism, said the Russian president’s behaviour was ‘appalling’.

‘The bottom line is Putin is an expert at disinformation and his actions are very reckless, and we’ve seen that now for three or four years,’ he told LBC.

‘His behaviour is appalling.

‘There’s no doubt the (HMS) Defender was asserting her right of innocent passage from one port to another.

‘Putin wants to play to his home audience, he wants to tell them ‘aren’t I tough, look at that, I’ve made Britain go away’, and that’s why I think they lied about firing warning shots at the defender – which they didn’t do.

‘As per usual, I’m afraid, Putin’s organisation is lying about that.’

Lord West added that the behaviour was ‘dangerous and stupid’.

‘I would say it’s the behaviour of a rogue state, but Russia shouldn’t be a rogue state,’ he said.

Moscow boasted that an Su-24 dropped four bombs in the vessel’s path after it refused to back down and warning shots were fired from their patrol ship, but Britain said the destroyer stayed in international waters and no shots were fired.

Two Black Sea Fleet coastguard ships continued to shadow HMS Defender from 100 yards away while 20 military aircraft patrolled it from the skies as it charted its course from Odessa in Ukraine to Georgia past Crimea, which Russia has annexed but the West refuses to recognise.

It was the first time since the Cold War that Moscow acknowledged using live ammunition to deter a NATO warship, reflecting the growing risk of military incidents amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West, as Ukraine’s foreign minister appealed for further NATO help.

Russia released footage filmed from one of its Su-24M attack jets which showed HMS Defender sailing off Crimea – but evidently not the moment it alleges shots were fired and four bombs were dropped.

Captain Vincent Owen said his mission was confident but non-confrontational and insisted he was maintaining course on an internationally recognised shipping lane but Mr Beale said it was a ‘deliberate move to make a point to Russia’.

Moscow summoned Britain’s military attaché and ambassador Deborah Bronnert to explain why the destroyer entered the waters.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also denounced what she called ‘rude British provocation that defies international law’.

The Ministry of Defence and Number 10 insist the incident never happened, adding that Russia was carrying out pre-arranged exercises and Defender was conducting an ‘innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters’.

Releasing the footage of HMS Defender from the air, Russian defence ministry’s TV channel Zvezda said: ‘In the footage can be seen the culprit of the incident, the destroyer Defender.

‘It is not known at what moment the footage was shot, either before or after the warning shots which forced the ship to change course and leave the territory of the Russian Federation.’

Some footage was allegedly shot from the Su-24M which is said to have dropped four bombs to deter the Royal Navy vessel.

Other footage may have been from a military drone.

A caption said the footage showed a joint operation by the FSB Border Service and the Black Sea Fleet ‘uppressing violations of the Russian state border by the British destroyer HMS Defender’.

In an unusual move, Russia also released footage of Britain’s defence attaché being summoned in Moscow.

Such meetings are normally private but a video was released to state media fuelling the assumption that Moscow was using the alleged incident for propaganda.

‘In the wake of a violation of the Russian Federation’s border by a Royal Navy destroyer, the defence attaché at the UK embassy in Moscow has been summoned to the Russian Defence Ministry,’ said a statement.

The Russian defence ministry had claimed a patrol ship first opened fire at 12.06pm and shot again two minutes later at HMS Defender after it refused to listen to radio warnings about entering its territorial waters.

Around ten minutes later, the Su-24 dropped four OFAB-250s in the path of the British vessel, forcing it to retreat after venturing two miles inside their waters, Russia said.

But the MoD issued a swift response to the claims, saying: ‘No warning shots have been fired at HMS Defender.

‘The Royal Navy ship is conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.

‘We believe the Russians were undertaking a gunnery exercise in the Black Sea and provided the maritime community with prior-warning of their activity.

‘No shots were directed at HMS Defender and we do not recognise the claim that bombs were dropped in her path.’

Tom Tugendhat, chair of the UK’s Foreign Affairs Committee slammed the government of Russia’s Vladimir Putin in a pair of tweets on Wednesday.

‘Firing shots at ships in international waters is criminal. Putin’s regime has: Used chemical weapons in the UK, Murdered opponents across Europe, Set explosions in Prague, Invaded and illegally occupied Ukraine and Georgia, Kept the Russian people hostage for a generation,’ he wrote.

‘Now it appears they lied about it,’ Tugendhat said in a second tweet.

‘For a mafia regime they really are pretty rubbish. But then they’ve so robbed the people and stripped out the country that there’s nothing left. Russia deserves better than these thieves.’