OTTAWA -- A senior naval commander is playing down an account from one of his sailors of a seemingly tense standoff between a Canadian warship and Russian vessels during a recent deployment.
The encounter occurred while HMCS Charlottetown was deployed on a six-month operation between August and January that included monitoring Russian military activity in the Baltic and Mediterranean seas.
In an interview with SooToday.com, an online publication in Sault Ste. Marie, Leading Seaman Cory Johnson, who served onboard the Charlottetown, described having to ready the ship's missiles at one point as the Russians neared.
The Canadian and Russian vessels were not in communication at the time, and Russian fighter aircraft also flew over the NATO force to which the Charlottetown was attached, Johnson added.
But Commodore Craig Skjerpen, commander of Maritime Forces Atlantic, says there was never any point where the Russians got too close and that the Charlottetown's captain felt the situation was under control.
Skjerpen says such encounters do occur from time to time and may seem tense to more junior sailors on board, but that both the Canadians and Russian acted professionally and at no time was it unsafe.
