A Pentagon official said on Wednesday that the crash of a US reconnaissance drone over the Black Sea after being intercepted by Russian jets was a sign of growing aggression from Moscow.
Russia, in turn, advised Washington to stay out of its airspace and said the clash was proof that the United States was directly involved in the war in Ukraine, a claim repeatedly denied by Washington.
“Recently, there has been a pattern of behavior in which Russia is acting more and more aggressively,” Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.
The US military said two Russian Su-27 fighter jets approached their MQ-9 Reaper drone during a reconnaissance mission over international waters in the Black Sea. The fighters attacked the drone and doused it with fuel, after which one of them cut off the drone’s propeller. As a result, Reaper fell overboard.
General Milli also said that a drone that crashed into the sea would be difficult to recover from the bottom, given the depth of the water in the area.
“It is likely to have sunk to a considerable depth, so any salvage operation would be technically very difficult,” Milley said, adding that it could take several days to determine the sea depth in the area. The approximate depth is 1219 to 1524 meters.
Russian authorities are now trying to recover the remains of the drone from the bottom of the sea.
“I don’t know if we can raise it or not, but it has to be done. And we will certainly work on it. I hope, of course, to succeed, ”said Nikolai Patrushev in an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV channel.
According to General Milley, the United States has already taken steps to protect against the loss of sensitive intelligence information if the Russian military can lift the Reaper from the sea floor.
“We’re pretty sure that anything that had (intelligence) value no longer has any,” the general said.
He said it was clear that the interception and pursuit of the drone by Russian planes was deliberate, but it remains unclear whether the Russian pilots intended to damage the drone by crashing into it, as these actions could have threatened the attackers themselves.
On Wednesday, the defense ministers of the two countries had a telephone conversation. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking with Milley at the Pentagon, declined to elaborate on the conversation with Shoigu, including whether he had complained to the Kremlin about the drone’s interception.
At a press conference, Austin reaffirmed that the United States intended to continue flying wherever international law permitted, and demanded that Russian military pilots also operate professionally and safely.
On Tuesday, the State Department summoned Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov to express concern over the incident.
Antonov said after the meeting that the drone “deliberately and provocatively moved into the territory of Russia with the transponders turned off.” The Russian diplomat believes US drones are being used to collect intelligence that the Ukrainians can then use against Russia.
He added that his meeting at the State Department had been constructive and that the question of the possible consequences for Moscow in connection with the incident had not been raised. At the same time, the Russian ambassador said the US military should “stop sorties near Russian borders.”
“The unacceptable activity of the US military in the immediate vicinity of our borders is concerning,” the head of the Russian diplomatic mission said in a statement.
Moscow still insists there was no clash. The drone reportedly crashed after performing “sudden maneuvers” while flying “intentionally and provocatively” near Russian airspace. Moscow has launched its fighter jets to identify the threat.
“The Americans keep saying they’re not taking part in the fighting. This is the latest confirmation that they are directly involved in this activity – in the war,” Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Kremlin Security Council, said earlier.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, at a press conference on Wednesday during an official visit to Ethiopia, said the Russian planes had acted “recklessly” and “dangerously”.
Ukrainian authorities say the drone crash showed that Moscow is ready to expand the conflict zone, involving other countries.
The United States has already provided Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars in military aid, but notes that its troops have not been directly involved in the war, which Moscow describes as a conflict against the combined might of the United States. ‘West.
On the territory of Ukraine, Russia continues its offensive to seize the small town of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region and achieve the first major victory in more than six months. General Milli said Russia was making little progress in the Bakhmut region, but it was costing it dearly.
