(ORDO NEWS) — Russian politicians and experts commented on the incident with the American destroyer John McCain, which violated the country’s maritime borders. They called the incident a political provocation and rudeness.
Earlier, the Ministry of Defense reported that the destroyer entered the Russian territorial waters in the Peter the Great Gulf for two kilometers. Having received a warning from the large anti-submarine ship of the Pacific Fleet “Admiral Vinogradov”, he immediately went into neutral waters. Later, the command of the US Seventh Fleet explained the destroyer’s maneuver as an operation “to ensure freedom of navigation.” The US military said they did not consider these waters to be Russia‘s territorial sea.
In the opinion of Elena Panina , a member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, the US actions are an attempt to escalate Russian-American relations.
“This is a political provocation in which everything is significant, including the name of John McCain, the main Russophobe and sworn enemy of Russia, after whom the American destroyer is named,” she told to RIA.
She noted that such an action on the part of Washington is taking place for the first time in a long period.
The former commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Viktor Fedorov, agreed with the parliamentarian.
“This was a gross violation of international maritime law. According to it, Russia’s territorial waters are determined by a line from the western to the eastern cape at a distance of 12 miles from the coast,” Fedorov told RIA.
He explained that the foreigners committed such a violation because they do not recognize this line as the border of the territorial waters of our country.
The ex-commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Vladimir Komarov, on the air of the NSN radio station called the operation of the American military rudeness and urged the Russian leadership to think carefully about the protection of the country’s borders.
He stressed that if a decision was made to ram the destroyer, the responsibility for this would lie with the United States.
“Battering ram is a compulsory measure against the violator. He is responsible, in this case – the United States of America,” the admiral stated.
At the same time, as Komoedov is sure, the Russian military would hardly have taken real action against the violator. He explained that the ships of the Navy are immune, in fact, being the territory of another state.
In turn, the president and member of the executive committee of the Russian Association of International Law, Anatoly Kapustin, noted in a comment to RIA that in order to prevent such incidents in the future, it is necessary to conclude an agreement with the United States on the recognition of Russian historical waters.
“The concept of” historical waters “is quite complex. It is not defined in the Convention in any way, by any special acts, they are mentioned in passing. States themselves establish certain limits,” the agency’s source said.
He explained that, under international law, a bay can be considered territorial waters if the entrance to it is no more than 24 nautical miles wide.
“But historically Russia (Peter the Great Bay – ed.) Really uses it as a territorial sea, therefore, everywhere in our documents there is information that we consider this bay to be ours according to Russian legislation, which establishes this,” the expert added.
The position of the Americans is that they do not recognize some historical or territorial waters from Russia and other countries, Kapustin said.
“And our position is based on the fact that such international practice exists and that our legislation establishes them,” the expert emphasized.
As the interlocutor of the agency noted, Russia has legal rights to settle the issue with territorial waters. This includes the use of force – displacement. Kapustin called for an agreement with the United States instead. However, according to him, the Americans will not agree to this.
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