The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday one of its warships, the destroyer Smetlivy, had been forced to fire warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the Aegean Sea to avoid a collision and that it had summoned the Turkish military attache over the incident.

The Interfax news agency said that the Turkish vessel, which the ministry did not name, had failed to respond to earlier warnings, but had sharply changed course after shots were fired before passing within 500 meters of the Russian warship.