Moscow this Thursday defended the maintenance of communication channels with Washington open after the incident involving the North American drone and two Russian fighters in the Black Sea, which sparked tensions between the United States and Russia.
“It is important to us to keep communication channels open and we are doing just that,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.at a press conference.
For example, Zakharova commented on the incident involving the United States drone (unmanned aerial vehicle), which, as reported on Wednesday by the portfolio holder of Russian Foreign Affairs Serguei Lavrov, carries “very high risks”.
The Russian diplomacy spokesman assured that Moscow does not seek confrontation with Washington and favors “pragmatic cooperation” in the interests of the people of both countries.
At the same time, he underlined that Russia knows how to “defend its interests”.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the holder in question, Serguei Shoigu, had a telephone conversation with his American counterpart, Pentagon leader Lloyd Austin, on Wednesday.
The conversation, the first between the two officials since October 2022, was initiated by the United States.
The incident involving the US ‘drone’, which crashed into the Black Sea on Tuesday after a Russian fighter jet hit one of its propellers, has also been addressed by the Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valeri Guerasimov, according to Washington. , and by his American counterpart, Mark Milley.
The Kremlin confirmed today that Russia and the United States have maintained contacts through their military and diplomats to discuss what happened to the “drone.”
The United States accused one of the Russian Su-27 fighters escorting its “drone” on Tuesday of hitting the propeller of the MQ-9, causing it to crash into international waters of the Black Sea.
On the other hand, the Russian Ministry of Defense denied any contact between its fighters and the American “drone”, which suddenly went into uncontrolled flight after a sudden loss of altitude and crashed into the sea.
Source: DN
