Royal Navy warship HMS Dragon's presence at former Soviet state in Black Sea deemed 'provocative' by 'hostile' Russia

Portsmouth-based HMS Dragon, a Scottish-built £1bn Type 45 destroyer, has been making its way through the contested Black Sea as part of a Nato deployment to offer security and reassurance - with Russia warning it has been tracking Dragon.

Kremlin fears are now likely to have been further exacerbated after news landed of the destroyer’s presence in Georgian city port Batumi on Saturday.

The UK Embassy called the meeting a ‘clear demonstration of its enduring strong partnership’ between the two countries.

The destroyer was hosted by the Georgian Coastguard with the visit also involving a Nato-level evaluation of the coast service's boarding groups.

The destroyer's Commanding Officer Giles Palin and his British delegation were hosted in Batumi by Georgian dignitaries including Captain Ramaz Papidze, director of the Coastguard Archil Chikovani and the acting mayor of Batumi.

The welcoming also involved Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Brumwell, the UK Defence Attaché to Georgia.

Dragon’s presence in Georgia follows warnings reported in Russian state media of the warship’s arrival earlier this month that left military chiefs in Moscow worried - with Russia’s Black Sea Fleet monitoring Dragon.

‘The Black Sea Fleet’s forces and capabilities have started to track the UK Navy’s destroyer Dragon that entered the Black Sea on October 4, 2020,’ claimed military news site, UK Defence Journal.

Destroyer’s presence in Batumi will add further fuel to the fire in a region Russia regards as its territory, according to Dr Paul Flenley, an international politics expert specialising in Russia at the University of Portsmouth.

‘Russia is hostile to any Nato ships operating around its former Soviet states,’ he said.

‘To have a Nato force so close to its borders will increase fear and will be seen as a provocation especially with Georgia and Ukraine’s membership to Nato on the cards.

‘Russia sees the Black Sea as its territory and having UK forces in the area getting closer and closer reinforces the victim narrative and fears the west is out to get them.

‘How they respond is a different matter. They are not stupid enough to be drawn into a direct confrontation with Nato forces but there are many other ways for them to respond such as destabilising countries in the region.’

The Black Sea has been a contested region following Russia’s annexation of the Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Since then, Russia has taken an aggressive stance on Western powers operating in the region.

Dr Flenley said the British would be ‘aware its presence would be provocative’ but concluded the destroyer was probably there to ‘give reassurance’.

He also said Nato could be offering a reminder to Russia that it ‘cannot act without observation’ over the ongoing war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the region.

Dragon also spent a week in Ukraine as part of its deployment earlier this month.

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