Russia issues chilling warning to US as Black Sea tension boils

'Don't test us!' Russia issues chilling warning to US as Black Sea tension boils

Jacob Paul

Russia has issued a new warning as Washington continues to fly drones over the Black Sea, with tension between the nations surging. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the US that Russia will retaliate with "countermeasures" if it continues to fly surveillance drones over the international waters.

In a stark message to US President Joe Biden, he said: "We warn the United States against trying to play on the nerves, testing our patience."

It comes after two Russian fighter jet pilots downed an unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drone on March 14. Moscow claimed the American vehicle violated airspace restrictions in connection with its invasion of Ukraine.

But Washington said the vehicle flying near the Crimean Peninsula Russiaannexed in 2014 was attacked in international airspace.

Despite the Russian offensive on the plane, White House national security spokesman John Kirby warned Moscow that it will "fail" in its efforts to "deter" the US from flying in international airspace.

Ryabkov is adamant the US drone flew "in a zone where we introduced a special regime associated with conducting military exercises", warning Washington not to try this again.

He added: "No American drones - reconnaissance, strike, strategic, whatever - can shake our determination."

This also comes after a set of US nuclear bombers took part in a mission with NATO allies in a mission over Europe on Wednesday.

The American B-52 planes were joined by jets from Spain, Italy and Romania in another major show of force against Russia.

The NATO air command tweeted: "The B-52s are training with Allied Air Forces during their BTF mission strengthening our Euro-Atlantic partnership."

Meanwhile, the US is continuing to supply Ukraine with weapons and surveillance drones to bolster Kyiv's troops as they fend off the Russian onslaught. But Russia has repeatedly warned the US not to get involved in the conflict.

Earlier this month, Russian and US officials met on the sidelines of the G-20 conference of foreign ministers in New Delhi in highest-level in-person talks between the two nations since Russia first invaded Ukraine.

However, this appeared to do little to quell the bubbling tension between the two sides.