"The Russian Federation will continue to respond to all provocations proportionately": what Shoigu and Austin discussed during the talks

At the initiative of the American side, on March 15, telephone conversations were held between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin.

As noted in the message of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the main attention of the interlocutors was paid to the exchange of views on the causes and consequences of the incident with the crash of a US unmanned aerial vehicle on March 14 in the Black Sea.

Recall that on this day the European command of the US Armed Forces said that the Russian Su-27 aircraft touched the propeller of the American MQ-9 drone over the Black Sea. Subsequently, the UAV fell into international waters.

The Russian Defense Ministry, in turn, stressed that the American drone moved with the transponders turned off in violation of the boundaries of the area of the temporary airspace use regime.

Russian fighters from the air defense duty forces were lifted into the air. Then, as a result of sharp maneuvering, the MQ-9 UAV went into uncontrolled flight and collided with the water surface. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stressed that the Russian aircraft did not use on-board weapons and did not come into contact with the drone.

As Sergei Shoigu emphasized during a conversation with his American counterpart, the cause of the incident was the actions of the United States to comply with the declared Russian-declared flight restriction zone, established in connection with the conduct of a special military operation, as well as the strengthening of intelligence activities against Russian interests.

Also on the russian.rt.com "We understand for what purpose": Antonov called the activity of the US military near the borders of the Russian Federation unacceptable

The Russian Defense Ministry noted that the flights of American strategic unmanned aerial vehicles off the coast of Crimea are provocative, which creates the prerequisites for the escalation of the situation in the Black Sea zone.

"The Russian Federation is not interested in such a development of events, but it will continue to respond to all provocations proportionately," TASS quoted the defense ministry as saying.

Also, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation noted that the largest nuclear powers should act as responsibly as possible, including maintaining military channels of communication to discuss any crisis situations.

The head of the Pentagon later commented on the conversation with his Russian counterpart, noting that "it is important for great powers to be models of transparency and communication." At the same time, he said that the United States will continue to fly and operate in any places where international law permits. "

Later, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation also stated that in the development of the conversation of the heads of defense departments, a conversation was also held on the phone of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Valery Gerasimov and the Chairman of the Committee of Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces Mark Milley. The content of their conversation in the Russian defense ministry was not cited.

New statement of the Embassy of the Russian Federation

Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy in the United States commented on the recent statements of the head of the press service of the State Department, Ned Price. In an interview with one of the American TV channels, he spoke about the visit of Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov to the State Department the day before in connection with the incident with the drone.

According to Price, Antonov's statements in the State Department were not convincing. In turn, the Russian diplomatic mission considered Price's statements unacceptable.

"We consider the assessments of the press secretary of the comments of the Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov on the incident with the MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea unacceptable, especially if they come from the mouth of an employee of the American diplomatic department. Such definitions are beyond any decency," the diplomatic mission said.

As emphasized in the embassy, the Russian side does not intend to justify itself in relation to the statements of the ambassador, since he relied on the messages of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, as well as on the words of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov.

As noted in the department, the incident in the Black Sea occurred due to the fact that the operators of the drone were poorly acquainted with the information of the Russian military about the boundaries of the area of the temporary regime for the use of airspace established for the purpose of conducting a special military operation.