Russia views the incident involving one of its Su-27 fighter jets and a US military drone over the Black Sea as provocation, its ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov has said, remarks published today show.
“The American UAV deliberately and provocatively was moving towards Russian territory with transponders turned off,” Mr Antonov said in remarks posted on his embassy’s website, referring to the drone as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
This comes as a US surveillance drone crashed into the Black Sea after it was intercepted by Russian fighter jets, Washington has said.
While there have been other such intercepts, the “reckless” incident was noteworthy because it was “unsafe and unprofessional” and caused the downing of a US aircraft, the White House said.
But Russia’s defence ministry claimed the drone went into the water as a result of its own “sharp manoeuvring”, adding: “The Russian fighters did not use their onboard weapons, did not come into contact with the UAV, and returned safely to their home airfield.”
