Moscow awards pilots who intercepted American drone

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu proposed this Friday to award pilots of Russian Su-27 fighter jets that intercepted a North American drone that crashed in the Black Sea last Tuesday.

Shoigu proposed awarding state awards to pilots who “prevented the violation by the American MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle of the borders of the restricted airspace zone established for conducting a special military operation in Ukraine.”

Moscow is calling the military invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation” that will begin in February 2022.

The maneuver or actions of the Russian pilots are not specified.

According to the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the boundaries of the air zone were made public “as established by the rules”, and international users were aware of them.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that Russia’s Air Navigation Code allows the government to establish “no-fly zones.”

“Drones must comply with these rules, especially during times of hostilities, as airspace users know,” Medvedev said.

According to the United States, a Su-27 fighter (manufactured by Sukhoi since the Soviet era) was escorted by an American MQ-9 (General Atomics MQ-9 Reape or Predator B) drone, “noticing” it later in the international waters of the Black Sea.

According to Russian sources cited by the Spanish agency EFE, the cost of the American device could be between $23 million and $56 million.

Russian analyst Vladislav Shurygin, a retired military man, said this was not the first time “enemy forces” (US) have lost an MQ-9 drone after it was intercepted by Russian fighters.

Vladislav Shurigin reported on the Telegram digital messaging system that two American MQ-9 drones and one belonging to Italian forces were “downed” in Libya in 2019 and 2019.