Russian downing of US drone ‘unprofessional’, says UK defence secretary
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor from on (#69TSF)
Ben Wallace urges respect for international airspace as presumption grows incident was one-off blunder by Russian pilot
The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, accused Russia of acting unprofessionally" in an incident that led to the downing of a $32m US Reaper drone in the Black Sea after it was harassed by two Russian fighter jets.
The comments, made while the minister was visiting Japan, reflect an emerging western view that the extraordinary mid-air incident was a one-off, not immediately meriting anything stronger than diplomatic complaints.
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