The US Air Force announced that Russian planes “harassed” US drones yesterday, Thursday, during their participation in operations against the Islamic State in Syria, for the second time in 24 hours.
Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich said – in a statement – that the Russian aircraft “fired flares in front of the drones and flew dangerously close to them, which endangered the safety of all the aircraft involved.”
“The (Russian) military aircraft engaged in unsafe and unprofessional behavior Thursday, 09:30 am local time, while interacting with US MQ-9 drones,” the statement said.
The day before, Grynkewich said that Russian planes also fired flares in front of the American MQ-9 drones, while one of the pilots turned on the back burner of his plane in front of one of the drones in Syrian airspace. The US Air Force urged its Russian counterpart in Syria to stop its reckless behavior and live up to the standards expected of it.
On the other hand, the Russian ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, considered Washington’s accusations of the Russian Air Force in Syria “unprofessional and inappropriate behavior.”
For his part, Oleg Gorinov, deputy head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria, announced that his forces had recorded 12 violations by the drones of the International Coalition forces in the airspace of a joint Syrian-Russian training area, and that the Russian side is not responsible for the safety of the uncoordinated flights of the marches.
And earlier this year, the United States said that a Russian plane caused the crash of its drone during its activity over the Black Sea, while Moscow denied responsibility for the accident.
