DISINFO: US drone was downed because it threatened Russian territorial integrity
SUMMARY
It is objectively a provocation since it is an intelligence drone,[..] it was approaching Crimea and Russian borders to transmit information to Ukraine.
The fact that Russia reacted is not in itself a sign of escalation. It is a sign of defense of its territory and its territorial integrity. Any country that sees any threat to its territorial security will destroy that threat.
We remember not very long ago that the United States saw in a Chinese weather balloon a threat to national security and they destroyed it while this balloon was outside their territorial zone.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about an alleged illegal US military threat against which Russia has no choice but to defend itself.
On 14 March 2023 a US MQ-9 Drone Crashed in Black Sea after it was violently destabilized by Russian SU-27 fighters in international airspace. The claim that any country would destroy any foreign aircraft in international airspace is incorrect. The claim that the US drone would have penetrated later in the Russian airspace if not eliminated is a speculation inconsistent with the drone's trajectory. The nearest national airspace to the drone was Ukraine's, not Russia, but that is beside the point as it was in international airspace.
The comparison with the Chinese balloon that US downed on 4 February 2023 is irrelevant since the device flew over Canadian and US for a week before being shot down over U.S. territorial waters off the coast of Surfside Beach, South Carolina.
Read stories related to the incidents in the Black Sea related to unfounded Russian territorial claims: UK destroyer's passage near Crimea violated international law, UK warship violated Russian territorial waters, HMS Defender violated international law when sailing in Russian territorial waters near Crimea, UK ship HMS Defender violated Russian territorial waters in Crimea, US destroyer violated Russian territorial waters, US destroyer violated Russian territorial waters.