MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Monday on the recent incident with a Chinese balloon downed over the United States, saying the issue was for Beijing and Washington to handle.
When asked for a comment, Peskov said, "Honestly speaking, we would not like to [comment]. The balloon was, apparently, a Chinese one. And it was flying over US air space. That, perhaps, rather concerns bilateral relations between China and the United States, so we will not comment on that."
Last week, authorities in the US identified a Chinese balloon at an altitude exceeding the norm for commercial flights. It posed no threat to people on the ground. On Saturday, the US Air Force downed what the Pentagon said was a spy balloon collecting vital information in US air space. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed his visit to China over the incident. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman clarified that it was a Chinese balloon, specifically a civilian weather balloon.