TSAMTO, June 28th. The statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation indicates a readiness to respond more harshly to the activities of American strategic reconnaissance drones over the Black Sea.
One of the possible answers could be the closure of the area for flights with a warning that military targets located in it would be destroyed, director of the CAMTO Igor Korotchenko told RIA Novosti.
Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry noted the increased intensity of US strategic drone flights over the Black Sea. The Russian military department stated that the purpose of these flights is reconnaissance and targeting of high-precision weapons supplied to Ukraine by the West in order to strike Russian targets.
The Russian Defense Ministry stressed that such activity indicates the increasing involvement of the United States and NATO countries in the conflict in Ukraine on the side of the Kiev regime, and flights of strategic drones multiply the likelihood of incidents in airspace with aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which increases the risk of direct confrontation between the alliance and the Russian Federation.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, as noted in the department, instructed the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to make proposals for a prompt response to provocations.
"This means, first of all, the possibility of a tougher military reaction to the actions of the relevant units of the US strategic air intelligence using the appropriate types of drones, the purpose and task of which is to prepare data based on intelligence information for strikes on Russian territory," I.Korotchenko said.
He suggested that the immediate reason for such a statement by the Russian Defense Ministry was the strike launched by Kiev with the help of ATACMS missile systems on Sevastopol and led to a large number of wounded and dead. The Director of the CAMTO stressed that in this regard, the actions of the Russian department are absolutely justified and proceed from the norms of international law and the desire to ensure the safety of peaceful citizens of the Russian Federation.
"In practical terms, of course, we do not know how this will be implemented, but from an expert point of view, it is obvious that there is a need to work out either the option of creating a no-fly zone, while at the same time warning that any military targets of NATO countries that will be in the zone of possible reconnaissance will be destroyed," – I. Korotchenko clarified.
Another option for implementing such measures, according to him, may be the use of long-range air defense systems or fighter jets of the Russian Aerospace Forces, in fact, to have such an impact on American drones, after which they will not be able to be in the reconnaissance area.
"The specific technologies and decisions taken will obviously be announced, either brought one way or another, or will be implemented in fact, but it is clear that the very fact of the publication of such instructions from the Minister of Defense to the General Staff indicates the seriousness of the intentions of a specific military response of the Russian department to the activities of NATO strategic air reconnaissance forces," concluded I.Korotchenko.
