Russia announces rapid response to NATO in the Greater Sea in the Baltic and Syria - June 27, 2024

The Russian Defense Ministry issued an ominous warning about U.S. spy drones in the Black Sea, vowing that its forces would adopt "rapid reaction measures" to prevent possible incidents in airspace.

The announcement comes after three serious incidents in the Baltic, Black Sea and Syria.

According to the statement, the Russian military has recently recorded an increase in the intensity of U.S. strategic flights over the Black Sea, which are reconnaissance and identification targets on behalf of the Ukrainian ED. Russia's new Defense Minister Andrei Belusov ordered the military's General Staff to take action against U.S. drones by taking rapid reaction measures.

"Obviously, Russian pilots were given the green light for some actions against US strategic drones. And our people have already blamed NATO; Russian media reported and added:

The UAVs target Russian facilities with precision weapons, which shows the growing involvement of the United States and NATO in the conflict on the side of Ukraine. U.S. drone flights significantly increase the likelihood of incidents with Russian aircraft or others through the Russian Aerospace Forces and this increases the risk of direct conflict between NATO and Russia. What are these "rapid reaction measures," to which the Russian Ministry of Defence refers? Do they mean the creation of a Flight Prohibition Zone over the Black Sea?

A ban on the Black Sea over the Black Sea?

The additional news coming from the Black Sea reinforces scenarios of general air deterrence, which may inevitably end up in a Flight Ban Zone over the entire Black Sea.

A no-fly zone over the Black Sea should be set up for military aircraft and drones outside the region,"  said Sergei Mironov, president of the A Just Russia party. In his opinion, this will help to avoid incidents like this in Sevastopol.

Last year I spoke about the need to shoot down the drones involved in collecting information and helping the Kiev regime beat us. Since then, the situation has deteriorated, as evidenced by the latest attack in Sevastopol. It is clear that the Ukrainians could not carry out such an attack without the help of the West," the MP said.

Mironov noted that it is necessary to start the creation of a no-fly zone for foreign aircraft and drones. The politician believes that such restrictions should not be imposed on civilian aircraft. We have American drones all the time over the Black Sea. Why the hell are they there all the time?! These are American targets! Let's declare a no-fly zone over the Black Sea and shoot them down," Mironov said. Hardline circles in Moscow are demanding downing here and now, especially after Ukraine's strike on Crimea.  "There are no red lines," says military correspondent Alexander Sladkov, "Therefore, shoot down these drones (American, NATO) when they appear near Crimea.

In the first case (central photo of the article) Russian Su-35S fighter armed with R-73s/R-74Ms and R-77-1s missiles intercepted a U.S. Navy P-8A aircraft.

A MiG-31 was entangled with a UAV Global Hawk over the neutral waters of the Black Sea.

The U.S. Air Force UAV was conducting a spying operation against Crimea. After the Russian aircraft approached the U.S. drone, the Global Hawk stopped the enemy activity and returned to Sigonella Air Base in Italy.

The U.S. RQ-4 drone is equipped with synthetic opening radar. It can photograph objects over an area of 138 thousand square kilometers from a distance of 200 kilometers without officially entering Russian airspace.

Then, a Russian Su-35 fighter came face-to-face with a drone MQ-9 Reaper of the U.S. Air Force in Syrian airspace.

This was stated by the deputy head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria, Major General Yuri Popov.

The incident occurred on June 27 in the morning. According to reports, the Russian Su-35 fighter was flying over Syria's Homs province when a US MQ-9 Reaper drone approached dangerously. The Russian pilot managed to avoid the collision by diverting the aircraft.

On June 27, from 10:24 to 10:29, over the city of Es-Sukhna in Homs province, at an altitude of 7,000 to 8,000 meters, an unmanned aircraft of the US coalition MQ-9 Reaper came into dangerous contact with a Russian Su-35 aircraft of the Aerospace Forces, which was carrying out a scheduled flight in Syrian airspace.

In the next incident, the Americans were not so lucky as a MQ-1 Grey Eagle UAV crashed.

The U.S. drone with air-to-ground missiles Hellfire fell in the eastern Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor near the city of al-Busayra. This area is controlled by the U.S. military and its local allies. This is an active combat zone. The exact cause of the drone crash is unknown. The U.S. military is already at the site of the UAV crash and is collecting debris to determine the reasons for the drone's abrupt landing.

There is reports that the U.S. unmanned MQ-1 Grey Eagle reconnaissance and impact aircraft, was shot down, either by Syrian Army allies or by "friend fire."