Accident or provocation? The US and Russia accuse each other of shooting down the drone in the Black Sea

For the Pentagon, this event is the result of the “imprudence” and the “unprofessional behavior” of the Russian pilots who, he says, carry out “dangerous maneuvers” in a manner “intentional”. “Several times before the collision, the Su-27 jets dumped fuel and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, unprofessional and unecological manner,” the US command in the region said. Specifically, according to the army spokesman, Patrick Ryder, they were flying close to the Reaper for 30 to 40 minutes before they crashed.

The Moscow version, however, differs entirely from that of Washington, since it denies that a crash occurred. In a statement released by Telegram, the Russian Defense Ministry points out that the drone was flying near the Crimean peninsula, illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014, in the direction of the Russian border.

[Así son el caza ruso Su-27 y el dron norteamericano Reaper MQ-9 envueltos en un choque en el mar Negro]

Therefore, the Russian army sent two fighters to “identify the intruder” which, after a “sharp manoeuvre”, lost altitude and fell into the water. “Our planes did not use any type of weapons on board, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle and returned safely to their home airfield,” he said in the statement.

the russian version points to the dronewhich did not enter its territory, had its identification transponders turned off within an area that the Kremlin considers (unilaterally) that belongs to you. “The unmanned vehicle violated the limits of the airspace established under a temporary regime for the purpose of carrying out a special military operation in the Ukrainian war,” denounces the department headed by Sergei Shoigu.

“Violation of international law”

At the moment, the defense departments of both countries have not been in contact to discuss what happened. The US maintains that its forces regularly fly over European sovereign territory and space international air in coordination with the corresponding countries and in accordance with international law.

[Biden reabre los canales de comunicación con Rusia mientras cae el apoyo público a Ucrania en EEUU]

Along these lines, he claims to have images – still classified – that confirm his version of events. The spokesman for American diplomacy, ned pricehas indicated that the actions of the Russian pilots were “a blatant violation of international law” and that Washington has already transferred its discomfort to Moscow, according to the agency. efe.

For her part, the United States ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, has delivered a “strong message” to the Russian Foreign Ministry, while the State Department has summoned the Russian ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonovexplained the official in a telephone press conference.