The US MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) made a "dangerous approach" to the Russian Aerospace Forces' Su-34 over the city of Raqqa, northern Syria.
TASS news agency quoted Rear Admiral Vadim Kulit, deputy director of the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria, as saying: "The incident happened at 07:03 am (local time) near the settlement of Ayn Issa in the city of Raqqa. The US MQ-9 UAV had a dangerous approach when flying close to the Su-34 fighter of the Russian aerospace force at a distance of less than 100m.
According to the rear admiral, "the action of the US UAV does not reduce the conflict situation in Syria". "The Russian pilots showed a high level of professionalism by taking the necessary measures to prevent a collision with the US UAV," Kulit said.
Mr. Kulit said that the aviation forces of the international anti-terrorist coalition led by the US continued to create dangerous situations in the sky over Syria, when conducting flights in violation of the Conflict Resolution Protocol. and violated Syrian airspace.
The US has not yet commented on this information.
Russia and the US regularly accuse each other of unprofessional actions in Syrian airspace. According to the Moscow side, Russian aircraft conduct patrol flights in strict compliance with existing agreements between Russia and the United States, in order to prevent incidents involving military aircraft.