Russia has warned London it will make it “difficult” for British warships to sail through Moscow’s territorial waters again.

The Russian ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, spoke out following an incident with Britain’s HMS Defender warship as it passed near Russia in June this year.

The UK Ministry of Defense has disputed statements made by Russia that “warning shots” were fired in the path of the warship.

According to Russian media, Kelin says the British destroyer was not on an “innocent passage” but a demonstrative one.

The Russian Ambassador said, "we did not say that we would open fire, as some parliamentarians may have said, but next time it will be much more difficult for them because this is not the first time a British warship has done this."

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, had previously described the incident with the HMS Defender a “provocation”.

The Royal Navy warship had been sailing from Odessa in southern Ukraine to Georgia and passed south of the Crimea peninsula, an area which belongs to Russia.