The United States accuses Russia after a drone crashed with Russian aircraft
The US has blamed Russia for irresponsible behaviour after an American drone collided with the Black Sea following an encounter with Russian fighter jets.
Before the crash, Russian aircraft is said to have dumped fuel into the drone’s approach, which the US says was in global airspace.
The US says it’s irresponsible behaviour from Russia:
We brought down the damaged MQ-9 Reaper drone after it was “unflyable”, the Pentagon stated. Russia has refused to allow its two Su-27 fighter planes to make any contact.
The critical question is whether the encounter was just a try by Russia to disrupt the US drone and its work – or a planned attempt to get it down.
US military officers said the incident happened at approximately 07:03 Central European Time (06:03 GMT) on Tuesday, and the row lasted around 30-40 minutes.
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Some times before the crash, the fighter planes dumped fuel on the drone in a “careless, environmentally unsafe and unprofessional way”, it said in a statement.
Pentagon representative Brig Gen Pat Ryder told journalists the drone was “unflyable and unruly, so we brought it down”, continuing that the crash likely damaged the Russian plane.
He said the aircraft was able to land following the happening.
Reaper drones are management aeroplanes with a 20m (66ft) wingspan. Brig Gen Ryder said to his ability the Russians had not retrieved the drone.
The United States National Security Council’s John Kirby reported to CNN: “Without getting too deep, I can say that we’ve taken measures to protect our equities concerning that respective drone.”
