MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told his US counterpart Lloyd Austin during their talks that Russia will continue to respond proportionately to all provocations near its border that are similar to US drone flights near its border, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

"It has been noted that flights by US strategic unmanned aerial vehicles near the Crimean coastline are provocative, which creates conditions for the situation in the Black Sea zone to escalate. The Russian Federation is not interested in this sort of developments, but it will continue to respond proportionately to all provocations," the ministry quoted Shoigu as saying.

Shoigu and Austin during their talks, which took place on Wednesday at the request of the US, focused on exchanging opinions about the causes and consequences of the incident with the US drone that crashed into the Black Sea, the ministry told reporters.

"The focus was made on an exchange of opinions about the causes and consequences of the incident with the US unmanned aerial vehicle that crashed into the Black Sea on March 14 of this year," the ministry said.

The ministry said Shoigu stated that the incident had been caused by US moves that disrespected the flight restrictions, which Russia established for a certain area due to the special operation, and by enhanced intelligence gathering directed against Russia.

It has also been noted during the talks that major nuclear powers need to keep their communication channels open to discuss crisis situations, the ministry said.

"Major nuclear powers should act with as much responsibility as possible, among other things, keeping military communications channels open for discussion of any crisis situations," the ministry said following the talks.