A human error or an aggressive gesture by an individual could trigger a confrontation between Russia and the West, says Italian FM
The crash of a US drone in the Black Sea marked a moment of great tension in relations between Moscow and Washington, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Wednesday. He also urged the West and Russia to exercise caution to avoid direct confrontation.
On Tuesday, the United States accused Russia of shooting down an MQ-9 Reaper drone, spotted off Crimea while carrying out a reconnaissance flight. Washington claimed the plane was on a routine mission in international airspace when it was intercepted by a pair of Russian Su-27s, which dumped fuel on the drone, with a jet then colliding with the plane. Reaper propeller.
Russia, however, insisted that its fighters had neither come into contact with the American drone nor fired a weapon, adding that the MQ-9 “took an uncontrolled flight” and went down “following sudden maneuvers.”
Speaking to Sky TV channel TG24, Tajani suggested that while the US and Russia each took tough stances on the incident, they tried to “so as not to turn the case into a casus belli.” “There is firmness, but no desire to escalate” he underlined.
However, in the current climate, the situation could worsen “due to human error or aggressive action by an individual”, notify the Minister.
to avoid the worst scenario, “a lot of caution is needed on the part of those who are engaged on the borders of Europe and NATO”, Tajani explained.
His comments come after the United States National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, John Kirby, told CNN on Tuesday that Washington certainly does not want the conflict in Ukraine “escalate beyond what he has already done to the Ukrainian people.” However, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin claimed that, despite the incident, the United States would continue to “continue to fly and operate wherever international law permits.”
Also on Tuesday, while condemning the incident as a “provocation,” Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov reported that Russia “did not seek confrontation” with Washington.
On Wednesday, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had no high-level contact with Washington about the drone crash. He added that, although relations between Moscow and Washington are currently in a “Deployable State”, Russia “has never refused a constructive dialogue.”
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