Russia calls on US to halt ‘hostile’ flights after incident

Russia’s ambassador to the United States says the US military’s “unacceptable actions” close to Russian territory are “a cause for concern,” urging Washington to stop “hostile” flights near the country’s borders.

Anatoly Antonov made the remarks in a post on his Telegram channel on Wednesday, a day after Moscow said it had intercepted an American MQ-9 drone over the waters of the Black Sea.

“We assume that the United States will refrain from further speculation in the media and stop flights near Russian borders,” he said, adding that, “We consider any action with the use of US weaponry as openly hostile.”

Antonov further quoted US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby as saying that US UAVs made those kinds of overflights on a daily basis.

He questioned the mission of the drones miles away from the United States, saying Moscow was well aware that they were collecting reconnaissance data to be used by Ukrainian forces for their future strikes on Russian territory and troops.

The Russian diplomat said he was confident that if a Russian strike drone appeared near US territories, “the US military would act in an uncompromising way and would not allow its airspace or territorial waters to be breached.”

Antonov also said Washington had already supplied Kiev with $33 billion worth of arms, noting that, “It is absolutely clear that it is the United States that is leading the situation to a deliberate escalation fraught with a direct armed conflict.”

He also stressed that Russia did not seek confrontation and believed it was important that the lines of communication remain open.