First published at 00:41 UTC on March 17th, 2023.
Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, has announced that Russia will attempt to retrieve the American MQ-9 drone that sank in the Black Sea. The drone was flying over international air space when a Russian f…
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Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, has announced that Russia will attempt to retrieve the American MQ-9 drone that sank in the Black Sea. The drone was flying over international air space when a Russian fighter jet intercepted it and crashed the craft into the water, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The incident was one of the first direct military confrontations between US and Russian forces since the Ukraine war began. It also escalated a dispute over the Black Sea, which lies in eastern Europe and is surrounded by NATO members including Russia.
Relations between Washington and Moscow have deteriorated over the past year, with heightened fears of an all-out conflict that could involve other NATO nations like Turkey.
General James Hecker, who oversees US air operations in Europe and Africa, said the MQ-9 drone was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted by a Russian aircraft and crash-landed into the Black Sea.
Gen. Hecker said the drone was carrying out its mission in a way that is authorized under international law, but he declined to answer further questions about its specific mission.
In a press conference Wednesday, Patrushev said Russia is willing to do its part to retrieve the drone’s wreckage, but he did not provide details about how the country would go about doing that. He referred questions about the debris to his Foreign Intelligence Service.
Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 3/15/23
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