Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov has instructed the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces to develop recommendations for swiftly addressing US drone activities over the Black Sea, characterized by the Defense Ministry as provocative.

The ministry highlighted the heightened presence of US strategic unmanned aerial vehicles conducting reconnaissance and targeting, allegedly to support Ukrainian Armed Forces equipped with Western-supplied precision weapons aimed at Russia.

"Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov gave instructions to the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces to prepare proposals for a prompt response to the provocations," the military said.

In further detail, the Defense Ministry stated that the presence of US strategic drones flying over the Black Sea raises the likelihood of encounters with Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft, heightening the risk of direct confrontation between NATO and Russia.

The ministry also emphasized NATO's increasing involvement in the Ukrainian war on Kiev's side, attributing responsibility for potential airspace incidents to NATO countries.

On Tuesday, Russian authorities said they could not confirm reports that a Russian fighter jet downed a US surveillance drone over the Black Sea after Ukraine launched a deadly strike against Crimea with US-supplied ATACMS.

Pro-war Russian bloggers claimed late Monday that a MiG-31 fighter jet “shot down” a Global Hawk reconnaissance drone over the Black Sea. An anonymous US military official later denied the reported incident, according to Reuters’ Pentagon correspondent Idrees Ali.

“To be honest, I don’t have this kind of information,” Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a daily briefing when asked to comment about the alleged downing of an American drone. 

Russia’s Defense Ministry has not issued any statements about an incident involving a Global Hawk aircraft and its warplanes over the Black Sea.

Read next: Russia to retaliate if US keeps flying drones over Black Sea: Moscow

Putin reshuffles Defense Ministry, makes new appointments

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced changes at the top of the country's Ministry of Defense, appointing new deputy chiefs of the military entity, according to a decree published on the official portal for legal acts.

Leonid Gornin, who has served as first deputy minister of finance since 2018, will assume the position of first deputy defense minister and will be in charge of financial support for the Russian Armed Forces.

Anna Tsivileva was appointed as deputy defense minister in charge of matters related to the organization of social and housing support for military personnel, as well as elevating the associated processes to a higher level.

Pavel Fradkov, also appointed as deputy defense minister, will oversee asset management, land resources, and construction of facilities for the defense ministry and national economy.

In turn, Pavel Popov was removed from the post of first deputy minister after he was expelled from military service.

Oleg Savelyev was appointed as deputy defense minister and simultaneously head of the ministry's apparatus.

The decree, which came into force this Monday, June 17, specified that the Russian defense minister, currently Andrei Belousov, will have 12 deputies.

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