‘Unacceptable’: Russian warship accused of violating Danish waters
A Russian warship has twice violated Danish territorial waters north of the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm, where a democracy festival attended by senior lawmakers and business people was taking place. Denmark called the action on Friday an unacceptable provocation.
The Russian warship entered Danish waters without authorisation at 00:30 GMT on Friday and again a few hours later, the armed forces said in a statement. The warship left after the Danish navy established radio contact, it said.
“A deeply irresponsible, gross and completely unacceptable Russian provocation in the middle of #fmdk,” Denmark’s foreign minister, Jeppe Kofod, said on Twitter, referring to the Democracy festival of Denmark.
The annual festival is attended by senior government officials, including Kofod and the prime minister, Mette Frederiksen. “Bullying methods do not work against Denmark,” Kofod said, adding that the Russian ambassador had been summoned.
There had, however, been no immediate threat against the festival or Bornholm, the Danish defence minister, Morten Bødskov, told local media, citing the armed forces.
“We must accept that the Baltic Sea is becoming a high-tension area,” Bødskov said, adding that this was not the first time Russia had violated Danish territory.
Ukraine’s defence minister said last month that Ukraine had started receiving Harpoon missiles from Denmark, deliveries that he said were the result of cooperation between several countries.
On Friday, Ukraine said its forces had hit a Russian naval tugboat with two Harpoon missiles in the Black Sea, the first time it had claimed to have struck a Russian vessel with westernsupplied anti-ship weapons.
The Russian embassy in Copenhagen did not immediately respond to a requests for comment by email and phone.