Russia's

ambassador

to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, after the downing of an American MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea, said that his country did not want a "confrontation" with the United States, and that American aircraft should stay away "from the Russian border."   

This is reported by CNN.

"The Russian Federation is not interested in confrontation. The Russian side is interested in pragmatic relations with the United States for the benefit of both the Russian and the American people," he said.

According to the Russian ambassador, the Ministry of Defense of any country could allegedly react in this way "to the threat of such a danger appearing along its borders."

Antonov said that "in our opinion, American planes have nothing to do near the Russian border."

The Russian diplomat also expressed the opinion that the actions of the Russian pilots were professional, and "there were no contacts, our fighters did not use any weapons."

A collision between a Russian fighter jet and a US drone over the Black Sea

On Tuesday evening, March 14,

a Russian fighter jet collided with an American drone over the Black Sea. 

One of the Russian planes, the statement said, hit the MQ-9's propeller, forcing the US Air Force to sink its own drone.

According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the American drone was flying "in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation" with transponders turned off "in violation of the borders of the area of ​​the temporary regime of airspace use."

In connection with the collision of the US Reaper drone with the Russian Su-27 aircraft, the Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly

Antonov was summoned to the State Department in Washington

.

His meeting with Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Karen Donfried lasted about half an hour.

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