A few weeks ago, they were at loggerheads, but now things are getting warmer again. When the British destroyer HMS Defender When the ship sailed through the coastal waters off the Crimea in the Black Sea at the end of June, Russian soldiers demanded that the ship leave the sea area claimed by Putin with some vigour and not very friendly words.
In the Barents Sea, on the other hand, the Russian navy showed its comradely side. There, the British survey and reconnaissance ship HMS Echo his work when the missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov (coincidentally?) dropped by. Instead of admonishments or threats, this time there were congratulations on the anniversary.
HMS Echo
The occasion was the 80th anniversary of the arrival of the first Allied aid convoy in the Russian harbour city of Arkhangelsk. The six British and Dutch freighters were protected from attacks by the German navy by Royal Navy warships. The operation, dubbed Operation Dervish, was the prelude to a further 41 transports of this kind over the following four years. The supplies were also used to support the Soviet Union in building up a second front in the fight against Nazi Germany.
In English and Russian, the commander of the cruiser conveyed his words: "The sailors of the Northern Fleet remember and mourn the sacrifices made by our allies in the fight against the common enemy." The Echo was not there by chance. She was stopped at the spot where the small cruiser Edinburgh had to be abandoned and sunk after several torpedo hits by U 456 and artillery fire from the destroyer Z 7.
Before the Russian cruiser moved away again, the commander of the Echo. The memory of a shared past therefore still outweighs current disputes.
Text: mb; Photos: MoD Russia, Royal Navy/Crown Copyright
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