Russia will award the pilots involved in an altercation with a US military spy drone over the Black Sea, causing it to crash into the water, Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu announced on Friday.
According to Washington, the Russian pilots of a Su-27 fighter jet struck the propeller of a US military MQ-9 "Reaper" surveillance drone, with White House spokesperson John Kirby calling the incident "unsafe and unprofessional."
Russia insisted that the fighter jet did not come into contact with the spy drone, claiming instead that the drone crashed due to "sharp maneuvering."
Now, the Russian defense ministry will look to honor the pilots involved in the incident with state awards.
Pentagon shows footage of Black Sea incident
On Thursday, the Pentago released footage of the incident over the Black Sea, the first direct US-Russian incident since the Ukraine war began.
In the video, the Russian fighter jet comes very close to the US MQ-9 drone and dumps fuel near it, in what US officials say was an apparent effort to damage the American aircraft as it flew over the Black Sea.
It also shows the loss of the video feed after another close Russian maneuver, which the Pentagon says resulted from the Russian jet's collision with the drone. It ends with images of the drone's damaged propeller, which the Pentagon says resulted from the collision, making the aircraft inoperable.
The video, which is about 40 seconds long, has been edited by the US military for length but shows events in a sequential order, the Pentagon said.