According to Wijninga, the Americans provide intelligence to Ukraine, via satellites, but also via such drones. ‘A drone flying over the Black Sea might be able, for example, to intercept Russian communications or monitor the position of Russian ships and transmit it to the Ukrainians. So it could very well be why the drone was flying in that area.’
“They even tried to dump fuel on it”
Accident
Wijninga doesn’t think the Russians’ intention was to actually shoot down the drone, but to force it to change course. “I think even the Americans assume it wasn’t the intention to actually shoot down the plane.” The Russian pilots also tried to dump fuel on the drone. “This could fog up the device’s camera lens so that visibility becomes more difficult.”
Reckless
Intentionally or not, the end result is still a collision because the Russian pilot got too close to the plane. And this is very close. If you want to hit the propeller, fly over the plane about half a meter.’ Wijninga calls it reckless, but he thinks it will ultimately end in fiasco.
“The Russian ambassador to the United States was summoned there. He must have gotten dirty. It could also have been discussed via the Red Line, the hotline between Moscow and Washington. Neither country benefits from this escalation.’
“If you want to hit the propeller, you fly over the plane about half a meter”
Provocation
The US State Department has summoned the Russian ambassador over the drone crash. The Russian ambassador to the United States called the incident a “provocation”. Russia’s state news agency RIA quoted Anatoly Antonov as saying: ‘We do not want a confrontation between the US and Russia. We are in favor of building pragmatic relations.’ Antonov made the comments after being summoned to the US State Department.
According to the Pentagon, the drone flew a routine ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) mission. Russia’s Defense Ministry insists its fighter planes “did not use aerial weapons and did not come into contact” with the US drone. The ministry said fighter planes from its air force took to the skies to identify the drone, which it said was heading “towards the state border of the Russian Federation”.
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