ISTANBUL

If necessary, Russia will recover the wreckage of the US drone that crashed in the Black Sea, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

“This is the prerogative of the military. If they deem it necessary to do that … for our interests and for our security, they will deal with it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a news briefing in the capital Moscow.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon said a Russian fighter jet collided with a Reaper drone, bringing the unmanned aerial vehicle down in international waters.

Russia denied that its jet came into contact with the drone.

Peskov said Moscow and Washington have had both military and diplomatic talks over the incident.

The military talks included defense ministers and top military commanders, he said. Peskov did not share any information about the diplomatic contacts.

On the New START Treaty, he said the Russian Foreign Ministry will respond to the US State Department’s statement that Moscow’s decision to suspend its participation is “legally invalid.”

“I think that our Foreign Ministry will probably give a clarification … After all, this is their prerogative,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last month confirmed that Moscow would no longer be part of the New START Treaty, which aims to control and reduce strategic nuclear weapons deployed by the US and Russia.

The treaty was signed in 2010 and extended in 2021 for another five years.

On Sweden and Finland’s push for NATO membership, Peskov said Russia regrets that they are trying to join the military alliance.

“We have repeatedly said that Russia does not pose a threat to these countries in any way, because we do not have any disputes with these countries, and these countries have never claimed to become anti-Russian,” he said.

No ‘plan for rapprochement’ present between Russia, Moldova

Regarding the recent tensions between Russia and Moldova, Peskov said he is not aware of any “plan for rapprochement.”

“I don’t know anything about the existence of such a plan. I cannot rule out that this is … another fake (news), which is something that is published in the Western media a lot,” he said.

“Russia has always been, is, and remains open to establishing good neighborly and mutually beneficial relations, including with Moldova,” he added.

Moldova’s leaders harbor “completely unjustified and unfounded prejudices” against Moscow, he said.

Tensions between Moldova and Russia have surged after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed last month that Moscow intends to “undermine the political situation in Moldova.”

Moldovan President Maia Sandu later said the country’s state institutions have “confirmed” that Moscow has such plans.

Moscow has rejected the claims, accusing Kyiv of trying to instigate conflict between Russia and Moldova.

Separately, Moscow said Ukraine is planning an “armed provocation” against Transnistria, a breakaway region internationally recognized as part of Moldova but currently controlled by pro-Russian separatists.​​​​​​​