Shoigu: the cause of the incident with the UAV was the failure of the United States to comply with the restricted flight zone
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu discussed with his US colleague Lloyd Austin the causes and consequences of the incident with an American UAV in the airspace over the Black Sea. The details of the telephone conversation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation were revealed in Telegram-channel.
During the conversation, Shoigu said that the cause of the incident was the US non-compliance with the restricted flight zone declared by Russia, as well as increased intelligence activities against Moscow’s interests.
The head of the Russian military department stressed that Russia will continue to “react proportionately” to all provocations, such as the flight of US drones near the borders of the Russian Federation.
Shoigu and Austin also noted that the major nuclear powers should maintain military channels of communication to discuss the crisis.
On March 14, Western media spread a message about a collision between an American UAV and a Russian fighter jet over the Black Sea. Later, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that a US-made MQ-9 drone had fallen in the Black Sea.
The military department indicated that the drone was flying with transponders turned off and violated the boundaries of the airspace use regime near the Crimean peninsula. The UAV was moving in the direction of the Russian state border.
