The Russian Armed Forces have mobilized two combat planes due to the presence in the Black Sea area of several drones that supposedly carried out surveillance tasks on the Crimean peninsula, according to the Ministry of Defense, which has not detailed the origin of these unmanned aircraft.
The official note is limited to identifying the drone models, MQ-9 Reaper and TB2 Bayraktar, that after the mobilization of the Russian planes “changed direction” and ended up leaving the area. According to Moscow, “a possible violation” of Russian national sovereignty was prevented.
“To prevent a possible violation of Russia’s state border and to counter UAVs conducting electronic reconnaissance, two Russian fighter jets have been raised,” the Defense Ministry said.
“Unmanned aerial vehicles they changed their flight direction and they left the areas where the aerial reconnaissance was carried out” as a result of the maneuver, he added.
The Black Sea has seen renewed tensions since Russia pulled out of an agreement protecting exports from Ukrainian ports in mid-Julywith an escalation of attacks on both sides.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russia said it had destroyed two Ukrainian military ships in the area. Moscow’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that one of its Sukhoi Su-30sm planes destroyed a Ukrainian “scout ship” near Russian gas production facilities in the Black Sea.
It later said it also destroyed a US-made speedboat carrying Ukrainian troops east of Snake Island, without providing further details.
The incidents came after the first civilian cargo ship sailing through the Black Sea from Ukraine recently arrived in Istanbul in defiance of the Russian blockade.
Moscow said last month that would consider any ship approaching Ukraine in the Black Sea as a potential military cargo carrierafter the collapse of the grain agreement.
The incidents involving Russian and Western aircraft They have also multiplied in recent months over the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea.
Tensions rose between Moscow and Washington when a US Reaper drone crashed after colliding with a Russian fighter jet over the Black Sea in mid-March.
Moscow said in May that it had intercepted four US strategic bombers over the Baltic Sea in two separate incidents in the space of a week.
Russia has also said it has intercepted French, German, Polish and British planes.
(With information from AFP and EP)
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Source-www.infobae.com