IRIA News

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on March 15, 2023. The resumption of talks between the two rival countries came after a U.S. drone was shot down while it was operating over the Black Sea.  

The U.S. and Russia gave conflicting accounts of the event that occurred on March 14, 2023. A U.S. military’s MQ-9 Reaper drone, valued at more than $30 million, was shot down over the Black Sea by two Russian Su-27 Fighter Jets. The U.S. side claims that the drones were on an investigation flight and carried sensitive spy technology without attacking capabilities.

Initially, the U.S. side reported that the drone collided mid-air with the Russian fighter jets. Pentagon officials said that Russian fighter jets were flying close to the drone and came in front of the drone several times for 30 to 40 minutes.

According to Pentagon officials, one of the Su-27 jets got stuck in the propellors of the drone which caused it to crash into the international waters in the Black Sea. The Pentagon officials also reported that the Russian jet sustained damage during the collision but managed to land safely back on the ground.

The Russian side, however, accounts for a different affair. According to the Russian defense ministry, the U.S. drone was flying close to the Russian border in the Black Sea before moving into the area that is deemed off-limits by the Russian authorities. In response to the drone’s activities in the region, the Russian air force scrambled its fighter jets to intercept the drone.

US releases official video showing collision between Russian jet Su-27 and US MQ-9 Reaper drone over Black Sea pic.twitter.com/rXxrOFTADt

— IRIA (@IRIA_Research) March 16, 2023

The ministry said that the Russian jets did not use any armaments against the drones and did not come in physical contact with the drones, instead, the drone fell down on its own. The ministry also added that the drone had its transponders turned off, a device that allows a plane to be identified in the air, which made it more suspicious.

“MQ-9 drone flew with its transponders off, violating the boundaries of the temporary airspace regime established for the special military operation, communicated to all users of international airspace, and published in accordance with international standards,” the Russian embassy in the U.S. quoted the Russian defense ministry in a tweet regarding the incident.

Contact between the U.S. and Russian officials has been relatively rare since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022. This is the first time since the start of was between Russia and Ukraine that the U.S. and Russian military assets have come directly in contact with each other. The event has fueled a risk of potential escalation between the two countries.

The Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin held a news conference after speaking to his Russian counterpart on the issue. He stressed that it is important to keep the lines of communication open during such sensitive times. He said that the U.S. takes “Any potential for escalation very seriously and that’s why I believe it’s important to keep the lines of communication open.”

“As I’ve said repeatedly, it’s important that great powers be models of transparency and communication, and the United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows,” Austin said during the news briefing.

Austin was joined by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Miley during the news conference. Miley said that the Russian jets bumped into the drone which caused it to crash. He said that the U.S. military is trying to locate the debris from the drone. He said the recovery has been hampered by the fact that the drone went down in about 5,000 feet of water.

Mike Miley also spoke with his Russian counterpart General Valery Gerasimov. The contents of the call between the two military chiefs were kept private. After serving as the Chief of the Russian air force, in January 2023, General Gerasimov was named the new commander of the Russian forces in Ukraine.

Soon after the incident took place, the Russian ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov was summoned to the Department of State to clarify Russia’s stand on the downing of the U.S. drone. Antonov said that Russia would “no longer allow anybody to violate our waters.”

Russia has declared the aerial space around the Crimea region off-limits to commercial and military flights. The U.S., however, does not recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea following its invasion of the Ukrainian region in 2014.