The Russian Defense Minister said on Wednesday during a call with his American counterpart that the “reinforcement” of espionage operations carried out by the United States was one of the causes of the incident between Russian aviation and an American drone in the Black Sea. .
“The causes of the incident are the non-compliance by the United States of the restricted flight zone announced by Russia and established as a result of the conduct of the special military operation (in Ukraine), as well as reinforcement intelligence activities against the interests of Russia,” Sergei Shoigu said in a Russian Defense Ministry statement.
“The strategic US drone flights off Crimea are provocative in nature, creating the conditions for an escalation in the Black Sea,” continues this press release published after the call between Sergei Shoigu and Lloyd Austin.
“A Climb on the Black Sea”
“Russia does not want such a development of events, but will now react proportionally to any provocation,” the ministry added, considering that “the main nuclear powers must act in the most responsible way possible, in particular by keeping military communication channels open.” communication to talk about any crisis situation”.
In a separate statement, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov had also spoken by phone with his US counterpart Mark Milley on Wednesday, without elaborating.
The MQ-9 Reaper went down in international waters on Tuesday after being hit, according to Washington, by a Russian fighter. Moscow admits the interception of the aircraft by its fighter jets, but denies any contact that led to the crash.
Source: BFM TV
