The subject of the ministerial talks was the downing of an American MQ-9 UAV in the Black Sea. The Russian Defense Ministry notes that the call was initiated by the United States, and Lloyd Austin urged the Russian Armed Forces to deal with their aircraft more safely.
Defense Ministers of the United States of America Lloyd Austin and the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu had a telephone conversation. The main topic was the downing of the American MQ-9 Reaper UAV in the Black Sea. This was reported by the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry.
The information published on the network says that it was the American side that initiated this call, but the Russian Ministry of Defense did not provide any more details.
“On March 15, 2023, at the initiative of the American side, telephone conversations were held between the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, and the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America, Lloyd Austin,” the message says.
The head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, during the final press conference at the end of “Rammstein 10” shared some points from the conversation with his Russian colleague. He stated that the American drone crashed after a Russian plane flew into it and that this was not professional on the part of fighter pilots.
“I just had a telephone conversation with my Russian counterpart, Minister Shoigu. As I have repeatedly said, it is important that the great powers serve as models of transparency and communication. And the United States will continue to fly and act in accordance with international law,” Lloyd Austin said.
The Pentagon is convinced that the Russian Federation is obliged to manage its aviation more safely, and any possibility of escalation is considered by the American side seriously. The parties expressed the hope that such contacts in the future will help to avoid miscalculations.
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Recall, on March 15, CNN wrote that the United States remotely erased secret software from the MQ-9 Reaper drone, which was shot down by a Russian Su-27. This was done to prevent the Russian side from obtaining classified information using American software.
Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev said that the Russian Federation is going to raise an American MQ-9 drone from the bottom of the Black Sea. According to him, the downed UAV is supposedly evidence that the United States is actually taking part in the war in Ukraine.
