Medvedev threatened Senator Graham with an “aircraft accident”

Deputy Head of the Security Council of Russia, former President Dmitry Medvedev in a telegram channel issued an indirect threat to American Senator Lindsay Graham in connection with his statements about the possibility of shooting down Russian military aircraft in the event of a threat to American objects.

Medvedev, in his characteristic manner, commented on the incident with the crash of the American Reaper MQ-9 drone over the Black Sea on March 14. As follows from the video published by the Pentagon, the drone fell as a result of the impact of the Russian Su-27 fighter. American officials accused the Russian military of unprofessional and aggressive actions, saying at the same time that the drone was unlikely to have been shot down intentionally.

The Ministry of Defense of Russia confirmed the crash of the drone, but not the contact of the Russian fighter jet with it. At the same time, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu presented the Su-27 pilots with state awards on Friday, citing the fact that they “prevented the violation of the borders of the special operation area by an American drone.” We are talking about the restricted zone introduced by Russia over a number of regions of the Black Sea in connection with its military campaign against Ukraine.

It follows from Medvedev’s post that he approves of the actions of Russian pilots. He accused the USA of the fact that their drones do not comply with the restricted zones established by Russia over the Black Sea. “In general, to put it simply, the Americans are completely pissed off. And it’s not the right way to deal with them,” wrote Medvedev. After that, he mentioned Graham’s statements and added: “By the way, aviation accidents sometimes happen with such creatures,” and provided the statement with an emoji with the image of a cross.

After the incident with the drone, the Republican senator, known for his tough stance towards Russia, called on Fox News to warn Russia: “If you approach one more US object flying over international waters, your plane will be shot down.” According to him, former US President Ronald Reagan would have given the order to shoot down planes if they threatened US aircraft.

Last spring, attention was drawn to Graham’s statement that there should be a “Colonel Stauffenberg” in the ranks of the Russian armed forces, which can be interpreted as a call for the physical elimination of Vladimir Putin – by analogy with the failed attempt on Adolf Hitler.

The US authorities said that American drones will continue to fly over the Black Sea and will not observe restricted zones declared by Russia in international airspace. It is known that the drone of the same model had already flown to the same area after the crash, including to monitor the search for the wreckage of the drone that fell into the sea, which is being conducted by the Russian military. Meanwhile, CNN, citing sources, reports that the Pentagon has decided to conduct an additional analysis of the costs and benefits of American drone flights over the Black Sea. “The Pentagon plans to analyze the overall costs and benefits of carrying out these missions, comparing the potential intelligence value of a particular route with the risk of escalating the conflict with Russia,” CNN says.