Kirby insulted decorated Russian pilots who intercepted American drone

Frustrated White House Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby called Russian military pilots awarded the Order of Courage “idiots” because, in his opinion, they “maliciously put themselves and US property at great risk” when they were sent to the bottom of the Black Sea American drone MQ-9 Reaper.

The day before, March 22, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry Sergei Shoigu presented the Order of Courage to pilots of Su-27 aircraft – majors Sergei Popov And Vasily Vavilovwhich prevented the violation by the American MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle of the borders of the area of ​​​​the temporary regime for the use of airspace, established for the purpose of conducting a special military operation.

Commenting today, March 23, on this award, Kirby stated:

“I don’t know of any other army in the world, no other air force in the world that would reward a pilot for crashing into a drone. If this is courage, then they probably have a different understanding of it. This is ridiculous. It’s insulting. I have no idea why they gave an award for bravery to someone who, at worst, maliciously put himself and US property at great risk, and at best, he was just an idiot.

As reported EADailyOn March 14, Majors Popov and Vavilov were on combat duty for air defense when they received the “air” command. According to Popov, they took off and determined that it was a Reaper MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle. They transmitted the data to the command post and then performed maneuvers by which they tried to force the drone to stop performing its task.

An American drone was found in an area where a special regime has been in place since the start of a military special operation. He was flying with transponders turned off.