Russia pilots careless in drone collision, US says

• The United States has accused Russia of irresponsible behaviour.
• American drone plunged into the Black Sea after colliding with Russian fighter planes.
• Russia has denied any touch between its two Su-27 fighter fighters.

The United States has accused Russia of irresponsible behaviour after an American drone plunged into the Black Sea after colliding with Russian fighter planes.

Russian planes are reported to have thrown gasoline into the path of the drone, which the US claims was in international airspace at the time of the accident.

The US brought down the damaged MQ-9 Reaper drone when it became “unflyable,” according to the Military.

Russia has denied any touch between its two Su-27 fighter fighters.

The main question is whether the encounter was simply an attempt by Russia to interrupt the American drone’s job or a purposeful attempt to bring it down.

According to US military authorities, the event occurred on Tuesday about 07:03 Central European Time (06:03 GMT) and lasted approximately 30-40 minutes.

The fighter planes dropped gasoline on the drone many times before the crash in a “reckless, ecologically unsound, and unprofessional way,” according to a statement.

According to a spokesperson Brig Gen Pat Ryder, the drone was “unflyable and unmanageable, therefore we pulled it down,” and the impact likely damaged the Russian aircraft.

He stated that the planes were able to land after the event.

Reaper drones are surveillance aircraft with a wingspan of 20m (66ft).

According to Brig Gen Ryder, the Russians have not retrieved the drone.

The United States’ National Security Council’s John Kirby told: “Without getting into too much detail, what I can say is that we’ve taken steps to protect our equities with respect to that particular drone.”

According to Russia’s defence ministry, the drone crashed after a “sharp manoeuvre” and was flying with its transponders switched off. Transponders are communication devices that enable the aircraft to be tracked.

Prof Michael Clarke, visiting professor in war studies at King’s College, told that the collision was “almost certainly an accident”.

The ex-director general of the defence and security think tank Royal United Services Institute said: “I don’t believe any pilot could deliberately do that [only colliding with another aircraft’s propeller] without seriously endangering their aircraft and own life.”

The event shows the growing danger of a direct confrontation between Russia and the United States over the Ukrainian conflict.

To protest the move, the United States summoned Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov to Washington.

During the discussion, Russian state media cited Mr Antonov as stating that Moscow considered the drone incident as “a provocation” and that “the unacceptable activity of the US military in the close proximity to our borders is a cause for concern”.

After Russia’s takeover of Crimea in 2014, tensions have increased over the Black Sea.

With Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine, the United States and the United Kingdom have increased reconnaissance and surveillance planes, always flying in international airspace.

According to the US, there has been a “pattern of dangerous actions by Russian pilots” interacting with allied aircraft in the region.

This suggests that the drone’s downing might have been caused by a mistake made by a Russian pilot who came too near when they “buzzed” the drone.

Nevertheless, if this was a planned strike on a US aircraft by a Russian warplane, observers believe it would be a tremendous provocation and a significant escalation.

In such situation, the strike would be interpreted as an attempt by the Kremlin to put the US reaction to the test.

Western allies have worked hard to prevent the Ukrainian conflict from turning into a direct confrontation with Russia. Yet that is all that happened over the Black Sea. The United States must now assess its reaction.

As US military chiefs cautioned in their statement, this was a risky conduct that “could lead to miscalculation and unintended escalation”.

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