The Turkish government has warned that Ankara's patience with Moscow "has a limit" after tensions between the two countries were highlighted yet again when the Russian destroyer Smetlivy fired warning shots as it neared a Turkish fishing boat yesterday.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, the fishing boat did not make radio contact or respond to to signal lamps and flares as it approached the Smetlivy near the Greek island of Lemnos. Crew on board the destroyer fired warning shots with small arms when the boat came within 600 metres.
But the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, told Italy's Corriere della Sera in an interview published today that the Russian reaction was "exaggerated."
Reuters reports:
"Ours was only a fishing boat, it seems to me that the reaction of the Russian naval ship was exaggerated," Mevlut Cavusoglu told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview.
"Russia and Turkey certainly have to re-establish the relations of trust that we have always had, but our patience has a limit," Cavusoglu said.
This afternoon, Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti news agency reported that there had been another incident involving Turkish and Russian vessels, this time in the Black Sea.
According to the report, a Turkish-flagged merchant vessel illegally crossed the path of an oncoming convoy of Russian ships, including a Black Sea Fleet missile boat, a Federal Border Service patrol boat and a towed drilling platform, forcing vessels to make emergency manoeuvres to avoid collision.
The Chernomorneftgaz company, which owns the rig being towed, claims that the Turkish-flagged vessel did not respond to radio calls.
The Border Service patrol boat and missile boat then "forced" the merchant vessel to change course.
It is worth noting that Chernomorneftgaz was one of several Ukrainian state-owned entities that were seized by the Russian government during the annexation of Crimea last year. The company is under both US and EU sanctions.
Meanwhile the Caesar Kunikov landing ship returned north through the Bosphorus today. When the vessel passed south through the strait on December 6, en-route to Syria, a crew member strode the upper deck with an anti-aircraft missile launcher at the ready.
The passage was well-documented and triggered complaints from the Turkish government. Mr Cavusoglu described the incident as "a provocation" at the time.
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