WASHINGTON, March 15. /TASS/. US military aviation will continue to fly in international airspace, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after the talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.
"I just got off the phone with my Russian counterpart, Minister Shoigu," Austin said at a Pentagon press briefing. "As I’ve said repeatedly, it’s important that great powers be models of transparency and communication, and the United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows," Austin said during a press conference Wednesday.
The drone situation
Previously, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the Russian Aerospace Forces detected a US MQ-9 drone flying near the Crimean Peninsula. The drone was reportedly flying with its transponder turned off and "in violation of the boundaries of the temporary airspace use area, defined in order to carry out the special military operation, which has been conveyed to all airspace users and published in accordance to the international norms."
The Defense Ministry added that the drone’s abrupt maneuvering caused it to lose control, lose altitude and crash into the water. Russian jet fighters did not use its weapons and did not collide with the drone, and successfully returned to their bases, the Ministry said.
The US European Command claims that a Russian Su-27 fighter damaged the drone’s propeller, which caused it to crash into the Black Sea.