The White House speaker stressed that this incident will not prevent the United States from conducting operations over the Black Sea, which does not belong to any state.

White House Press Secretary John Kirby called the MQ-9 Reaper drone crashed by a Russian Su-27 fighter jet over the Black Sea “unsafe and unprofessional.”

The Guardian writes about it . Kirby noted that cases of Russian aircraft intercepting US aircraft over the Black Sea are not rare, but this one “deserves special attention.”

Kirby told reporters that President Joe Biden had been briefed on the incident. He added that the US State Department would “speak directly” to its Russian counterparts and “express our concerns about this unsafe and unprofessional interception.”

The White House speaker stressed that this incident will not prevent the United States from conducting operations over the Black Sea.

“The Black Sea does not belong to any state. And we are going to continue to do what is necessary to ensure our national security interests in this part of the world,” Kirby said.

In turn, State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the United States called the Russian ambassador “on the carpet.”

 “The United States is summoning the Russian ambassador to the State Department in connection with the incident with an American drone over the Black Sea,” Price said.

The US ambassador in Moscow sent a clear message to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Price said, adding that US officials have briefed allies and partners on the incident.

(C)UNIAN 2023