Washington, United States

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday vowed that United States will fly its aircraft "wherever international law allows" and warned Russia it must operate with caution, after an American drone was allegedly crashed by one of the Russian fighter jets.

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The statement was made by Austin shortly after he spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu over the phone about the incident that took place over the Black Sea on Tuesday when two Russian fighters allegedly hit an unmanned US surveillance drone and its propeller was damaged.

The incident was labelled by the United States as "reckless" and "unprofessional" while Moscow refuted the allegations and Washington was instead accused of conducting "hostile" flights in the region.

ALSO READ | Russia refutes allegations of crashing US drone over Black Sea

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"The United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows," said Austin while speaking to reporters after the call with Shoigu. "And it is incumbent upon Russia to operate its military aircraft in a safe and professional manner," he added.

US Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley said that the video and the data retrieved from the drone are still being analysed by the Pentagon to see what exactly happened.

"Was it intentional or not? - don't know yet. We know that the intercept was intentional. We know that the aggressive behaviour was intentional, we also know it was very unprofessional and very unsafe," said Milley.

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"The actual contact of the fixed-wing Russian fighter with our UAV, the physical contact with those two, not sure yet,” he added.

Appreciating the call, Austin said, “We take any potential for escalation very seriously and that's why I believe it's important to keep the lines of communication open.”

"I think it's really key that we're able to pick up the phone and engage each other. And I think that will help to prevent miscalculation going forward,” he added.

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Meanwhile, Shoigu, in talks with Austin, said that "increased intelligence activities against the interests of the Russian Federation" as well as the "non-compliance with the restricted flight zone" declared by Moscow because of its military campaign in Ukraine led to the incident with the drone, said the defence ministry in a statement.

The Russian ministry further warned that it would react "proportionately" to any "provocations" by the US in future.

"Flights of American strategic unmanned aerial vehicles off the coast of Crimea are provocative in nature, which creates pre-conditions for an escalation of the situation in the Black Sea zone," the ministry stated.

"Russia is not interested in such a development of events, but it will continue to respond proportionately to all provocations,” it added.

Earlier in the day, Moscow said that the wreckage of a US military drone will be retrieved by the officials.

In televised remarks, Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev said that Moscow would retrieve the wreckage of the downed craft but remained unsure if they would achieve success. "But it has to be done. And we will certainly work on it," he stated.

(With inputs from agencies)

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