Dutch navy: Russian jets flew low over frigate in Black Sea

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Russian warplanes repeatedly flew low over a Dutch navy frigate in the Black Sea last week and carried out “mock attacks,” the Defense Ministry of the Netherlands said Tuesday. It came a day after after Russia said one of its warships in the Black Sea fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs to force a British destroyer out of an area near Crimea that Russia claims as its territorial waters. The ministry said that the Russian jets, armed with bombs and air-to-surface rockets flew past the frigate between 3:30 p.m and 8:30 p.m. and were followed by “disruptions to the Evertsen’s electronic equipment.” The Russian Defense Ministry responded in a statement later Tuesday, saying that the military scrambled its warplanes “to prevent the violation of the Russian Federation's territorial waters” after the Evertsen changed course and headed toward the Kerch Strait between the Black Sea and the Azov Sea. The ministry said that after the Su-30 fighter jets and the Su-24 bombers made flyovers “at a safe distance” from the Evertsen, the ship changed course and sailed away.