'US ignores flight-restricted status of Black sea coastal areas': Russian Foreign Minister
Moscow/IBNS/UNI: The United States ignores the fact that after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the Black Sea coastal areas have a flight-restricted status, so the drone incident looks like a provocation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"It [the United States] completely ignores the fact that after the start of a special military operation, our military declared the relevant areas of the Black Sea, adjacent in certain places, as areas with a restricted status for the use of any aircraft," Lavrov told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.
"Such a defiant ignorance of this objective fact, of course, suggests that the US side is constantly trying to look for some kind of provocation to escalate its confrontational approaches," Lavrov stressed.
"This is bad, because they have constantly declared that they are a responsible power, interested in strategic stability. But words are at odds with deeds," he added.
This comes after a Russian fighter jet on Tuesday dumped fuel on an American drone over the Black Sea then collided with it, causing the drone to crash.
US European Command had said two Russian Su-27 fighters intercepted the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper over international waters and one clipped its propeller.