Russian fighter jet pilots who brought down an American drone in the Black Sea have been given state awards for their actions, Moscow’s Defense Ministry announced Friday. The incident on Tuesday—which U.S. officials called “reckless” and “unsafe”—saw the MQ-9 Reaper drone brought down after one of the Russian Su-27 jets smashed into its propeller, according to Washington’s version of events. On its Telegram channel, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had bestowed honors on the jet pilots after they “prevented the violation by the American unmanned aerial vehicle MQ-9 of the borders of the area of the temporary regime for the use of airspace, established for the purpose of conducting a special military operation,” referring to the war in Ukraine. “The Russian fighters did not use airborne weapons, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle and returned safely to their base airfield,” the statement continued, saying instead that “sharp maneuvering” caused the drone to crash.
