The Kremlin signaled caution as it addressed questions about any plan to recover or recover an American unmanned aerial vehicle recently reported down in the Black Sea. The spokespeople suggested that such actions would fall under the discretion of the defense ministry, adding that they did not have a readout on the military’s immediate intentions.
In mid-March, the U.S. Department of Defense described an incident in which Russian fighter jets intercepted an American MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance drone above the Black Sea. According to the American account, a wing strike damaged the drone’s propeller, forcing the aircraft to descend into the water. Washington described this as a forced loss of the drone during a tense over-water maneuver.
A White House spokesperson stressed that the United States does not want Russia to retrieve a downed American drone from the sea, underscoring the broader concerns about maritime safety and sovereignty in the region.
Separately, a Russian foreign ministry representative offered a provocative line, suggesting that the United States should consider engaging a Ukrainian firm to locate the drone, citing potential connections to explosions linked to energy infrastructure in the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines as grounds for the request.