World

US drone incident with Russia is likely to be ‘isolated’: analyst

The downing of an American drone over the Black Sea, an act that Americans are blaming on a Russian fighter jet, appears to be the case, a former NATO commander and military analyst said. a “particular incident”.

The United States said a Russian jet collided with the propeller of an MQ-9 surveillance drone operating in international airspace on Tuesday, prompting US forces to bring it down into the sea. international.

Russia said the drone made an abrupt turn and plunged into the water after encountering Russian jets, which were scrambling to intercept the drone near Crimea.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price called the move “a flagrant violation of international law.”

Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, responded to the incident: “We have to be very careful with our actions, taking into account what is happening in (eastern) Europe.”

“So you see that we don’t want to create a situation where we could face unintended clashes or unintended incidents between the Russian Federation and the United States of America,” Antonov said. .

Retired Major General David Fraser, who commands NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, said based on the Russian ambassador’s comments, it appeared the incident may have involved an inexperienced pilot taking action. escalate the situation at the political level.

“As for the Russians to actually talk about restraint and not escalating things with this kind of constant tit-for-tat operation… the Russians have actually come out and said something else, which is something else. That shows this is an isolated incident,” Fraser said.

The incident is believed to be the first time since the Cold War that an American plane was shot down after encountering a Russian fighter jet.

The Associated Press reports that even before Russia’s war in Ukraine, NATO planes were involved in about 400 interceptions of Russian aircraft each year.

But the meeting comes amid rising tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its second year.

The secretary of Russia’s Security Council said the country plans to search for debris from the drone.

Meanwhile, US National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby told CNN the US has “taken steps to protect our fairness with respect to specific drones”. there.”

“Obviously we don’t want to see anyone but us get involved in it,” he said.

Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defense said fighter jets from the British and German air forces were deployed on Tuesday to intercept a Russian plane flying near Estonian airspace. Both countries are conducting joint air surveillance missions over Estonia as part of NATO’s efforts to fortify its eastern flank.

Fraser said the further interception by Britain and Germany showed how highly alert people were.

“I suspect the radio waves behind the scenes are just trying to tell people to back off a bit,” Fraser said.


With files from The Associated Press and CNN



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