US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby criticized the Russian Defense Department for awarding medals to pilots involved in downing an advanced US military drone over the Black Sea last week. Pentagon video shows what he calls a Russian aircraft collided with the drone before it crashed, but in Moscow they said that the American plane had lost control. “I don’t know of any other army in the world (…) that rewards a pilot for destroying a drone. If it’s bravery, I think they have a different definition for it,” Kirby said. “I have no idea why they are giving a bravery award to a pilot who, at worst, maliciously put himself and the United States aircraft at great risk, and at best, just a fool,” he added.
Washington and Moscow presented two different versions of the MQ-9 crash, with each side blaming the other. The US military spoke about what they called a “reckless” interception operation carried out by two Russian Sukhoi-27 aircraft, noting that one of the two planes hit the drone’s propeller, causing it to crash. On the other hand, Moscow saw the incident as an American “provocation” and denied it. That her air force was the cause of the downfall of the American march. about Russia’s war with Ukraine a year ago – heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, which are at their lowest point, according to Russian and US officials.
