Russia-US tension: A day after the United States accused Russia of downing its drone, Moscow on Wednesday asserted it was ready to initiate dialogue with Washington and did not want to engage in further confrontations.
While addressing a press briefing, Russia's President's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, confirmed that the defence ministry had briefed President Vladimir Putin about the latest development and added that the top-notch suggested the media personnel refrain from any "unnecessary speculations" over the matter.
US-Russia relations at lowest point
Peskov has appealed to the media to follow the defence ministry for any updates concerned with the matter and directed not to publish anything which is "provocative". The spokesperson acknowledged that the two countries were in the "lowest" state of the relationship but maintained Moscow did not want to engage in further conflict.
According to Peskov, an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle crashed into international waters in the Black Sea on March 14 at 9:03 a.m. (Moscow time), news agency TASS reported.
Further, he maintained that the defence ministry confirmed that the drone was flying towards the Russian border with its transponders turned off.
Russia had no role in shooting of US drone
"It was in violation of the temporary regime established for the airspace over the area of the special military operation. The device went out of control as a result of sharp manoeuvring and then crashed," the news agency quoted the top official. "The Russian jet fighters accompanying it did not use their weapons, nor did they come into contact with the drone at all in any other way," he added citing the Defense Ministry.
On the other hand, Pentagon claimed that two Russian Sukhoi-27 jets intercepted an MQ-9 on a reconnaissance mission and dropped fuel on it several times. This resulted in a crash.
"Non of US's business"
Peskov said that Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov was summoned by the Department of State in connection with Tuesday’s incident. Peskov said the diplomat slammed the appearance of a drone over the Black Sea as a provocation. US warplanes and ships "have no business near the borders of Russia," he stressed.
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