The United States believes that the actions of the Russian military in the incident with a US drone over the Black Sea were unintentional, State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
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Price said he saw footage of the MQ-9 UAV crash and was under the impression that the maneuvers of the Russian Su-27 fighter were “virtually completely out of control.”
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“I think the fairest assessment now is that it probably wasn’t done on purpose. It’s probably the result of the blatant incompetence of one of these Russian pilots,” Price said in an interview with MSNBC.
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The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that on Tuesday morning, an American MQ-9 drone with transponders turned off violated the borders of the area of the temporary regime for the use of airspace over the Black Sea. The UAV was moving towards the Russian border, Russian fighters were raised into the air to identify the intruder. Due to abrupt maneuvering, the drone went into uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and fell into the water. Russian fighters did not come into contact with the MQ-9, did not use airborne weapons and returned safely to their home airfield, the Russian Defense Ministry stressed.
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U.S. authorities insist the drone went down after its aft propeller rammed a Russian Su-27.
Price dismissed claims that the MQ-9, which is capable of carrying weapons, could have intruded into Russian airspace.
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“This drone was over international waters in international airspace. It was about 40 miles from Crimea, and by the way… Crimea is Ukraine,” Price said.
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He stated that the United States is closely coordinating such flights with “Ukrainian partners.”
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“We will continue to fly, swim and act wherever international law allows. If the Russians think they are able to intimidate us and force us to refuse such actions, then we will prove that they are deeply mistaken,” Price said.
