Moscow views the incident involving a Russian Su-27 fighter jet and an American military drone over the Black Sea as a provocation, said Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov, who emphasized that “in our opinion, they do not have US aircraft.” business near the Russian border,” Reuters and CNN reported.

Anatoly Antonov, Ambassador of Russia to the USAPhoto: Sergey Bobylev / TASS / Profimedia Images

“We regard this incident as a provocation,” Antonov said after calling the US State Department.

Antonov stated that his meeting at the State Department was “constructive” and that the question of possible “consequences” for Moscow due to the incident was not raised, reports RIA.

“From our point of view, we do not want any confrontation between the USA and Russia. We are in favor of building pragmatic relations for the benefit of the Russian and American peoples,” said Antonov.

In a conversation with journalists, Antonov emphasized that, from Moscow’s point of view, “American planes have no business being near the Russian border.”

“Can you imagine if such a UAV suddenly appeared near New York or San Francisco?” Antonov asked rhetorically.

“Can you imagine the reaction of the American media, the Pentagon to this drone? What kind of drone was that? Think about that before you call me at the State Department. IS [dronă] multi-purpose with a strike capacity of up to 1,700 kg of explosive load,” he said.

“Tell me, how would any ministry in any country react to the threat of such a danger near its borders?”

Antonov said that he wanted to emphasize “how professionally the Russian pilots acted. Our fighters did not establish any contact and did not use weapons.”

“I believe that it is better to discuss ways of mutual cooperation and actions in the State Department, but, unfortunately, recently my communication with the State Department is limited only to expressing their protests against the actions of the Russian Federation,” he said.

The US said on Tuesday that one of the Russian Su-27 jets had engaged the MQ-9’s propeller, prompting US command to take down the MQ-9 drone in international waters.

Several times before the collision, Su-27 jets dumped fuel on the drone and flew in front of it in a reckless and unprofessional manner, according to the US.

Russia denies that it touched the American drone in any way, saying that it didMQ-9 Reaper crashed in the Black Sea due to “sudden maneuvers”.