Drone crash prompts calls between US and Russia
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin maintained Wednesday the US “would continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows.” This follows a US drone crashing in the Black Sea near Crimea on Tuesday morning, with the US saying a Russian fighter jet collided with it, causing it to crash. “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 told reporters. Austin also said he spoke to his Russian counterpart by phone to discuss the incident, but could not offer details of their conversation. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, on the call, said that American drone flights near Crimea’s coast “were provocative in nature” and could lead to “an escalation … in the Black Sea zone,” according to a ministry statement. Russia, the statement added, “had no interest in such a development but will in future react in due proportion.” Although this marks the first time the two military chiefs spoke by phone about the drone incident, this was not their first conversation since the war in Ukraine began. They spoke for the first time in May 2022, which at the time marked the highest level of contact between the US and Russia since the invasion.
Credit DW News