The Russian ambassador to the US calls the maneuvers of a US drone in the Black Sea “provocation”

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March 14 () –

The Russian ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, on Tuesday called the maneuvers of an American drone over the waters of the Black Sea “provocative” after hitting an SU-27 fighter of the Russian Air Force against the unmanned vehicle.

“I think this is a real provocation. This provoked us to carry out certain actions after which one could blame Russia or the Russian Army for some kind of lack of professionalism,” he said, according to the news agency. TASS.

Antonov, who has reiterated that the device was flying with the transponders turned off, spoke these words to the press after being summoned by the US State Department and leaving a meeting to explain what happened to the US ambassador in Moscow, Lynne Tracy .

According to the command of the US forces, one of the Russian fighters flying over the Black Sea hit one of the drone’s propellers, which led the US authorities to shoot it down at sea. According to the Pentagon, Russian planes flew near the device for more than 30 minutes before it fell into the Black Sea, without its remains being able to be recovered.

For their part, the Russian authorities have stated that the Russian military at no time used weapons or came into contact with the US drone, which was flying with the transponders turned off and violating the delimited area “in accordance with international standards”. to carry out overflights in international airspace.