The confrontation ratcheted up tensions between Moscow and Washington. (File)
Moscow:
Russia’s defence ministry stated Friday it had adorned pilots concerned in an incident this week that led to an American drone to crash over the Black Sea.
Washington launched footage Thursday of what it stated confirmed Russian navy jets bearing down on the drone however Moscow maintains the plane was downed after it misplaced management.
The confrontation ratcheted up tensions between Moscow and Washington and spurred a uncommon telephone name between senior US and Russian navy officers.
“Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu introduced state awards to the Su-27 pilots who prevented an American MQ-9 drone from violating (Russia’s) momentary airspace,” the ministry stated.
Moscow has stated that it established airspace restrictions over the Black Sea as a part of its navy intervention in Ukraine in accordance with worldwide norms.
On Friday, Moscow reiterated that the pilots “didn’t use on-board weapons, made no contact with the UAV and safely returned to their house airfield.”
Moscow additionally repeated that the drone crashed “on account of sharp manoeuvring at round 0930 Moscow time (0630 GMT).”
The USA makes use of MQ-9s for surveillance and finishing up strikes, and has lengthy operated over the Black Sea, maintaining a tally of Russian naval forces.
Washington stated after the incident that it could “proceed to fly and to function wherever worldwide regulation permits.”
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
