{"id":30457,"date":"2023-03-15T17:53:47","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T17:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/03\/15\/us-russia-ratchet-up-their-rhetoric-over-downing-of-drone\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:44:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:44:55","slug":"us-russia-ratchet-up-their-rhetoric-over-downing-of-drone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/federal-oversight\/2023\/03\/15\/us-russia-ratchet-up-their-rhetoric-over-downing-of-drone\/","title":{"rendered":"US, Russia ratchet up their rhetoric over downing of drone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story has been updated with additional information.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KYIV, Ukraine \u2014 Russia and the United States ratcheted up confrontational rhetoric Wednesday over a U.S. surveillance drone that encountered Russian warplanes<\/a> and crashed near the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin has illegally annexed. At the same time, the two countries\u2019 defense chiefs opened a dialogue about the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kremlin said the flight proved again that Washington is directly involved in the fighting in Ukraine and added that Moscow would try to recover the drone\u2019s wreckage from the Black Sea. U.S. officials said the incident showed Russia\u2019s aggressive and risky behavior and pledged to continue their surveillance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia has long voiced concern about U.S. surveillance flights near its borders, but Tuesday\u2019s incident signaled Moscow\u2019s increasing readiness to raise the ante as tensions soar between the two nuclear powers. It reflected the Kremlin\u2019s appetite for brinkmanship that could further destabilize the situation and lead to more direct confrontations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who said the incident was part of a \u201cpattern of aggressive, risky and unsafe actions by Russian pilots in international airspace,\u201d spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, on Wednesday<\/a> for the first time in five months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Defense
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, right, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, attend a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Wednesday, March 15, 2023, at the Pentagon in Washington. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds\/Pool via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 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,\u201d Austin told reporters in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who also appeared at the briefing, said, \u201cWe know that the intercept was intentional. We know that the aggressive behavior was intentional,\u201d but whether the Russian warplane\u2019s collision with the MQ-9 Reaper drone was intentional was still unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Russian Defense Ministry said in its report of the call with Austin that Shoigu noted the U.S. had provoked the incident by ignoring flight restrictions the Kremlin had imposed due to its military operation in Ukraine and also blamed \u201cthe intensification of intelligence activities against the interests of the Russian Federation.\u201d Such U.S. actions \u201care fraught with escalation of the situation in the Black Sea area,\u201d it said, warning that Russia \u201cwill respond in kind to all provocations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia\u2019s Security Council, said in televised remarks the drone incident was \u201canother confirmation\u201d of direct U.S. involvement in the Ukraine conflict<\/a>. The Kremlin has repeatedly said the United States and other NATO members have become direct war participants by supplying weapons and intelligence to the Kyiv government and pressuring Ukraine not to negotiate peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patrushev, a confidant of President Vladimir Putin, also said Russia would search for the drone\u2019s debris, but added, \u201cI don\u2019t know if we can recover them or not, but we will certainly have to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. officials said Russia dispatched ships to try to recover the wreckage, which Milley said were likely submerged 4,000 to 5,000 feet (1,200 to 1,500 meters) deep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. has no vessels in the Black Sea because Turkey closed the Bosphorus Strait to warships in 2022, except for those returning to home port.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the drone was in international airspace when the Russian warplane struck its propeller. U.S. officials accused Russia of trying to intercept the unmanned aircraft, although its presence over the Black Sea \u2014 a strategic military and economic area for both Russia and Ukraine \u2014 was not uncommon.<\/p>\n\n\n\t