Dhe Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday denied any responsibility in connection with the crash of a US drone over the Black Sea. The drone was neither shot at nor attacked in any other way, according to a statement distributed by the state agency TASS.
A Russian Air Force alarm squad was deployed to identify an unknown intruder over the Black Sea. During a sharp evasive maneuver, the drone rapidly lost altitude and fell into the sea, according to the Russian military. “The Russian warplanes did not use any onboard weapons, did not come into contact with the UAV and returned safely to their home base.”
The US military said that two Russian fighter jets had intercepted the American MQ-9 Reaper drone, which was flying in international airspace over the Black Sea. One of the fighter jets grazed the propeller of the American reconnaissance drone.
US forces would then have had to bring the unmanned aerial vehicle to the ground. Before the collision, the Russian jets dumped fuel over the US drone several times and flew in front of it. The US military said an “unsafe and unprofessional” action by the Russian side caused the incident.
After the incident, the US government summoned the Russian ambassador. The United States wanted to express its “strong objection to this dangerous, unprofessional interception” of the drone, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in Washington on Tuesday. In Moscow, US Ambassador Lynne Tracy had already sent a “strong message” to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
According to the US Air Force, the incident happened on Tuesday morning. CNN quoted US Air Force Europe Commander General James Hecker as saying: “At approximately 7:03 a.m. CET, one of the Russian Su-27 aircraft struck the MQ-9’s propeller, alarming US forces to descend the MQ-9 in international waters.”
There have always been incidents with Russia, including in recent weeks, said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday. However, this act was “irresponsible” and caused the crash of an American aircraft. In this respect, the incident was “unique”.
Kirby said the drone was “in international airspace over international waters” and “did not pose a threat to anyone.” If Russia’s aim was to prevent America from being active in international airspace over the Black Sea, then it had “failed”. “We will continue to do what we need to do for our own national security interests in this part of the world,” Kirby said.