Russia plans to recover wreckage of US drone downed over Black Sea
The Guardian - News - 17-3-2023
US says any recovery operation in such deep water would be difficult and unlikely to yield useful intelligence
The defence secretary said the incident would not deter the US from flying in the area. “We will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows,” he said, calling on Russia to operate its aircraft in a “safe and professional manner”.
The Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu told Austin that Washington’s “increased” intelligence gathering against Russia had led to the drone incident. The ministry in Moscow also warned that it would react “proportionately” to any future US “provocations”.
It is the first recorded collision of a US and Russia or Soviet aircraft since the second world war. In 1987, there was an incident involving a Soviet Su-27 and a Norwegian P-3 Orion maritime surveillance plane, in which one of the Soviet plane’s fins struck one of the Norwegian plane’s propellers. According to some accounts, the Soviet pilot also dumped fuel on the P-3’s fuselage, but both planes were able to land safely.
In April 2001, a Chinese fighter jet collided with a US EP-3 spy plane off the Chinese coast, causing the Chinese plane to crash and the US plane to make a forced landing on China’s Hainan Island, sparking a diplomatic crisis.
Tuesday’s incident has revived a bipartisan push in Congress for the US to develop a more assertive Black Sea strategy.
“We cannot leave it up to Putin, who chose to invade Ukraine and pursue other forms of aggression in the region, to define the rules of the Black Sea,” the Republican senator Mitt Romney, one of the co-sponsors of a bill that would strengthen the US strategy in the region, said. “It’s critical that the Biden administration develops a robust Black Sea strategy to strengthen the coordination between the US, Nato and our Black Sea partners.”
The Guardian - News - 17-3-2023
US says any recovery operation in such deep water would be difficult and unlikely to yield useful intelligence
The defence secretary said the incident would not deter the US from flying in the area. “We will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows,” he said, calling on Russia to operate its aircraft in a “safe and professional manner”.
The Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu told Austin that Washington’s “increased” intelligence gathering against Russia had led to the drone incident. The ministry in Moscow also warned that it would react “proportionately” to any future US “provocations”.
It is the first recorded collision of a US and Russia or Soviet aircraft since the second world war. In 1987, there was an incident involving a Soviet Su-27 and a Norwegian P-3 Orion maritime surveillance plane, in which one of the Soviet plane’s fins struck one of the Norwegian plane’s propellers. According to some accounts, the Soviet pilot also dumped fuel on the P-3’s fuselage, but both planes were able to land safely.
In April 2001, a Chinese fighter jet collided with a US EP-3 spy plane off the Chinese coast, causing the Chinese plane to crash and the US plane to make a forced landing on China’s Hainan Island, sparking a diplomatic crisis.
Tuesday’s incident has revived a bipartisan push in Congress for the US to develop a more assertive Black Sea strategy.
“We cannot leave it up to Putin, who chose to invade Ukraine and pursue other forms of aggression in the region, to define the rules of the Black Sea,” the Republican senator Mitt Romney, one of the co-sponsors of a bill that would strengthen the US strategy in the region, said. “It’s critical that the Biden administration develops a robust Black Sea strategy to strengthen the coordination between the US, Nato and our Black Sea partners.”
3 yr. ago
