MOSCOW says that it wants to recover the fragments of a surveillance drone that US forces brought down in the Black Sea after an encounter with a fighter jet, a Russian security official said today.

Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev claimed in televised remarks that Tuesday’s incident was “another confirmation” of direct US involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. 

He said that Russia planned to search for the drone’s debris.

Mr Patrushev said: “I don’t know if we can recover them or not, but we will certainly have to do that, and we will deal with it.”

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the MQ-Reaper drone was flying in international airspace and over international waters when a Russian Su-27 jet struck its propeller.

US officials accused Russia of attempting to intercept the unmanned aerial vehicle, although its presence over the Black Sea was not an uncommon occurrence.

“It is also not uncommon for the Russians to try to intercept them,” Mr Kirby said, saying that such an encounter “does increase the risk of miscalculations and misunderstandings.”

Mr Kirby said that the US “took steps to protect the information and minimise any effort by anybody else to exploit that drone for useful content.”

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service chief Sergei Naryshkin said that his country had the technological capability to recover the drone’s fragments.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the intercept by the Russian jet was part of a “pattern of aggressive, risky and unsafe actions by Russian pilots in international airspace.” 

He said: “The US will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows.”

After the incident the US State Department summoned Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov.

Later Mr Antonov said that the drone had “deliberately and provocatively” moved towards Russian territory with its transponders turned off.

“The unacceptable activity of the US military in the close proximity to our borders is a cause for concern,” Mr Antonov said. 

“They are collecting intelligence, which is subsequently used by the Kiev regime to strike at our armed forces and territory.”

Journalist Danny Haiphong tweeted: “The US complained when Chinese jets flew near a US spy plane in the South China Sea [in December 2022].

“Now the US is playing victim after Russia forced down one of its drones in the Black Sea.

“Maybe the US should get its weapons out of places thousands of miles from its shores? Just a thought.”