MOSCOW. Aug 29 (Interfax) - Russian fighter jets were scrambled once again to prevent U.S. drones from conducting reconnaissance near the Crimean Peninsula, the Russian military said.
"A flight by U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper and RQ-4 Global Hawk drones toward the state border of the Russian Federation on an air reconnaissance mission in the area of the Crimean Peninsular was detected by airspace monitoring systems of the Russian Aerospace Forces over the southwestern part of the Black Sea on August 28," the Defense Ministry said on Monday.
Two Russian fighter jets from on-duty air defense forces were scrambled to avert a possible violation of the Russian border and to thwart the drones' electronic reconnaissance operation, it said.
"As a result of the measures undertaken by the on-duty air defense forces, the reconnaissance drones of the U.S. Air Force changed course and left the district of the air reconnaissance mission," the ministry said.
Russia's National Defense Control Center said the day before that a Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet had been scrambled to shadow a U.S. MQ-9A Reaper reconnaissance drone over the Black Sea.