Moscow, December 13, 2015 (AFP) – Russia said on Sunday that a Russian destroyer had narrowly avoided a collision with a Turkish ship in the Aegean Sea, and summoned the Turkish military attaché in Moscow as a result of this incident. “On December 13, the crew of the Russian ship Smetlivy, which was 22 km from the Greek island of Lemnos in the northern Aegean avoided a collision with a Turkish fishing boat,” announced the Ministry defense. At 6:03 GMT, the Russian destroyer, which had anchored, noticed a Turkish fishing boat at a distance of a thousand meters, approaching in his direction from the right. “Despite several attempts Smetlivy, the crew of the Turkish ship did not respond by radio or visual signals,” he added.

Moscow claims that the crew of the Russian ship had to shoot with small arms when the boat approached about 600 meters, “to prevent a collision.” “The Turkish ship immediately changed course and continued to move forward, beyond the Smetlivy at a distance of 540 meters without any contact with the Russian crew,” the ministry added. Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov, summoned the Turkish military attaché in the wake of the incident, he added.

Turkey and Russia through their worst diplomatic crisis since the Cold War, after a Russian military plane was shot down on November 24 by the Turkish aviation. Since then, Russia has announced retaliatory measures against Turkey that are primarily the sectors of tourism, energy, construction and agriculture. President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered the Russian army to respond with “extreme firmness” any force which would threaten Syria. The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has in turn called on Russia to “calm” but warned that Ankara’s patience had “limitations”. as / g / at / jh