Shoigu: Cause of UAV incident was US non-compliance with restricted flight area
Defense Minister Russia Sergei Shoigu discussed with a colleague UNITED STATES Lloyd Austin causes and consequences of an incident with an American drone in the airspace over the Black Sea. Phone call details Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation disclosed in Telegram-channel.
During the conversation, Shoigu said that the cause of the incident was the failure of the United States to respect the restricted flight zone declared by Russia, as well as the increase in intelligence activities against the interests of Moscow.
The head of the Russian military department stressed that Russia will continue to “react proportionally” to all provocations, such as the flight of American drones near the borders of the Russian Federation.
Shoigu and Austin also noted that major nuclear powers should maintain military communication channels to discuss the crisis.
On March 14, Western media broadcast a message about a collision between an American drone and a Russian fighter jet over the Black Sea. Later in the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmedthat an American-made MQ-9 drone fell into the Black Sea.
The military department said the drone flew with the transponders turned off and violated the limits of the regime for using airspace near the Crimean peninsula. The UAV was moving in the direction of the Russian state border.