As tensions raged over an American drone that crashed over the Black Sea, the Pentagon on Thursday released footage of what it said is a Russian Su-27 aircraft conducting an unsafe intercept of a US Air Force MQ-9 in international airspace.
The department of defense released the footage after Russia denied accusations that its jets acted recklessly in the incident, and instead blamed “sharp maneuvering” by the drone for the crash, claiming its jet did not make contact. The Pentagon said the clip has been edited for length but shows events in a sequential order.
The 42-second video shows two Russian jets approaching the back of the MQ-9 drone, one by one, and beginning to release fuel as it passes.
The video starts with a Russian Su-27 approaching to the rear of the MQ-9 surveillance drone starts releasing fuel. At the ninth second of the clip, the SU-27 passes over MQ-9 while releasing fuel and disrupts the video transmission. The propeller of the drone, however, remains undamaged.
After a few seconds, a Russian Su-27 begins a second approach toward the MQ-9 and passes over it even closer, colliding with the drone after which camera feed is lost for about 60 seconds, according to Pentagon. The camera feed starts working again but this time one of the propellers can be seen damaged, making the aircraft inoperable.
The release of the video followed separate calls on Wednesday between the top US general, Mark Milley, and his Russian counterpart, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, as well as between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu.
(With agency inputs)
