Following the incident, the Russian Defense Ministry warned the Turkish military attaché about “the possible harmful consequences of the reckless actions by Ankara against the Russian military contingent, involved in tackling international terrorism in Syria.”

“Deep concerns were voiced over another provocative action by the Turkish side against the Russian patrol ship Smetlivy in the Aegean Sea, which forced them to open warning fire… in order to avoid a collision with the Turkish vessel,” the ministry said in a statement.

The warning shots came from small arms and were strategically aimed to guarantee the Turkish ship was out of harm’s way, the statement stressed.

The incident happened in the northern part of the Aegean Sea some 12 nautical miles from the Greek island of Lemnos, the ministry said.

Turkish military attaché in Moscow urgently invited to Rus Defence Ministry in view of incident in the Aegean Sea https://t.co/LkGSFTSnkG

— Минобороны России (@mod_russia) December 13, 2015

The crew of the Kashin-class guided missile destroyer Smetlivy spotted the Turkish fishing trawler some 1,000 meters from the Russian warship early on Sunday morning, the ministry said. The ship was sailing towards the destroyer and ignored calls for radio contact and other attempts to communicate.Read more

When the Turkish vessel approached to about 600 meters, the Smetlivy opened small arms fire at a spot in front of the trawler, taking care to avoid any risk of hitting the Turkish ship itself, the report said.

The ministry said the Turkish fishing ship changed course after that and kept about 540 meters from the Smetlivy, but didn’t contact the Russian warship.

“Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov has summoned the military attaché of the Turkish embassy in Russia in connection with the incident in the Aegean Sea,” the statement said.

There is serious tension between Turkey and Russia after an incident on the Turkish-Syrian border, in which Turkish fighter jets shot down a Russian bomber plane conducting airstrikes against terrorist forces in Syria. Turkey said the move was justified by a 17-second incursion into Turkish airspace.

Russia denied the Russian warplane crossed the border and called the incident a stab in the back. Moscow accused Ankara of protecting terrorists in Syria to ensure a continued flow of smuggled oil to Turkey, which Russia says profits some senior Turkish officials.

—
http://www.rt.com/news/325785-russian-destroyer-turkish-trawler/

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Russian Missile Destroyer “Fires Warning Shots” To Avoid Collision With Turkish Vessel

ZeroHedge.com

Another day, another military escalation between Russia and Turkey, this time not in the air, but on the water in the northern part of the Aegean sea, where the crew of the Russian “Smetlivy” destroyer was forced to use firearms on Sunday to prevent a collision with a Turkish seiner vessel according to a statement by Russia’s Ministry of Defense.

The full statement from Russia’s Defense Ministry read that “the crew of the Russian patrol ship Smetlivy which was located 22 kilometres from the Greek island of Lemnos in the northern part of the Aegean Sea avoided collision with a Turkish seiner.”

The crew of the Kashin-class guided missile destroyer Smetlivy spotted the Turkish fishing trawler some 1,000 meters from the Russian warship early on Sunday morning, the ministry said. The ship was sailing towards the destroyer and ignored calls for radio contact and other attempts to communicate.

The destoyer’s morning crew spotted an approaching Turkish ship at a distance of approximately one kilometer. The seiner did not get on the air for radio contact with the Russian ship and did not respond to signal lamps or flairs.

Upon the Turkish seiner’s dangerously close approach to “Smetlivy” at a distance of 600 meters, the Russian partol ship fired a shot beyond the hitting range of the fireamrs to avoid collision.

The ministry said the Turkish fishing ship changed course after that and kept about 540 meters from the Smetlivy, but didn’t contact the Russian warship.

“Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov has summoned the military attaché of the Turkish embassy in Russia in connection with the incident in the Aegean Sea,” the statement said.

Muzaffer Gecici, who is the owner of the Turkish fishing vessel Geciciler Balikcilik, however flatly denied the Russian claims saying that his boat and the Russian warship had a distance of at least 1 mile (1.6 km), speaking to the Turkish media.

He also stated that the Russian warship was not on the move and nobody heard any warning shots from the destroyer, adding that his vessel is technologically well-equipped and that he has already given footage from the incident to the Turkish Coast Guard.

Meanwhile, the Russian ministry has released another statement after it summoned Turkey’s military naval attache in Moscow, Rear Admiral Ahmet Gunes, saying that the Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov had “a conversation” with Gunes.  The statement has also claimed that the Turkish vessel, which is a small civilian fisher boat, was able to provoke the Russian military guard ship Smetlivy.

“Just by good fortune, the tragedy had been avoided,” the statement kept claiming.

For now there is no official (or unofficial) closure of the Bosphorus to Russian shipping, however as noted previously, this does remain a key Turkish trump card, one which however Putin would promptly read as an declaration of war by Erdogan, and as a further reminder, the bloody Russo-Turkish was of 1828 was sparked by nothing less than the closure of the Dardanelles Strait to Russian ships.

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http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-13/russian-missile-destroyer-fires-warning-shots-avoid-collision-turkish-vessel