Pentagon releases declassified video of Black Sea drone incident

By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) – The Pentagon on Thursday released declassified video in a rare move showing Russia’s interception of a U.S. military surveillance drone shot down over the Black Sea two days ago.

It was the first direct incident between the United States and Russia since the start of the Ukrainian war, worsening already strained relations between Washington and Moscow.

In the video, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet comes very close to the US MQ-9 drone and dumps fuel nearby, in what senior US officials say is an apparent attempt to damage the US plane while that it was flying over the Black Sea.

It also shows the loss of the video signal after another nearby Russian maneuver, which the Pentagon says occurred following the Russian plane’s collision with the drone. It ends with footage of the drone’s damaged propeller which the Pentagon says was rendered inoperable after the collision.

The video, about 40 seconds long, was edited by the US military to make it longer, but shows events in sequential order, according to the Pentagon.

Rusia ha negado las acusaciones de EEUU de que sus aviones actuaron de imprudent form en el incidente del martes sobre el mar Negro, y en su lugar ha culpado a “maniobras bruscas” del avión no tripulado por el accidente, alegando que su avión no hizo contact.

The incident over international waters served as a reminder of the risk of a direct confrontation between the United States and Russia over Ukraine, which Moscow invaded more than a year ago and Western allies have supported by intelligence and weapons.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Toby Chopra and Christina Fincher, Spanish editing by José Muñoz)