Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “Russia does not seek a confrontation with the United States after the drone incident.
Commenting on the US drone incident, Zakharova told a press conference in Moscow today: “We believe it is important to keep lines of communication open.
She added: “We do not seek confrontation, but we advocate pragmatic cooperation for the benefit of the people in our two countries, and we know how to protect these interests.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said an American MQ-9 drone heading for Crimean airspace in the Black Sea crashed, losing altitude, and that two Russian fighter jets flew to intercept it and failed to shoot it down.
In a statement, the ministry added that on the morning of March 14, an American MQ-9 drone was seen heading towards the airspace of the Crimean peninsula.
It stated that the march did not turn on its identification devices in violation of the no-fly zone declared by the Russian Ministry of Defense over the Black Sea, about which all users of international airspace were informed in accordance with international standards.
It confirms that two Russian fighter jets took off to identify the aircraft in the aforementioned exclusion zone.
The department said that as a result of a sharp maneuver around 9.30 Moscow time, the MQ-9 lost altitude and crashed into the water.
And she stressed that two Russian fighters did not hit the American march, did not use their ammunition and returned safely to their base.
Source: RIA Novosti