(Updates with details, quotes from the White House)
By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) – The United States released a declassified video on Thursday showing Russia’s interception of a military surveillance drone shot down over the Black Sea two days ago. According to the White House, footage shows how Moscow lied about what happened.
The downing of the US MQ-9 drone on Tuesday was the first direct incident between the United States and Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine, 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 US officials say is an apparent attempt to damage the plane as it 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 Pentagon said the footage, which is about 40 seconds long, was edited by the US military to make it longer, but shows events in sequential order.
A map provided by the US military showed the interception first occurred between 40 and 50 nautical miles off the coast of Crimea in international airspace. The collision took about 10 more miles and the drone eventually crashed about 75 to 85 nautical miles from land, depending on the strength.
Russia has denied accusations that its planes acted recklessly during the incident over the Black Sea, and instead blamed the drone’s “sudden maneuvers” for the crash, saying its craft did not failed to make contact.
The White House said the released images refute Moscow’s version of events.
“It absolutely destroys the Russian lie about what they said happened or what they said didn’t happen,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters. . “It’s pretty obvious when you watch this video that (the) fighter jet hit our drone.”
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.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russian ships had been seen near the area where the drone crashed, although they did not appear to have recovered any parts of the craft yet. . (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Toby Chopra and Christina Fincher, Spanish editing by José Muñoz and Javier Leira)