Moscow lists number of Turkish UAVs shot down, says West 'overreacting' to one incident

Bayraktar TB2: UAV ‘sát thủ’ của Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ

Russian air defense said it shot down 100 Turkish Bayraktar UAVs during the conflict in Ukraine. (Source: Reuters)

On April 9, Lieutenant General Andrey Demin, Deputy Commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS), said that there is basically no difference in the fight against unmanned aerial vehicles ( UAVs ) such as the US Global Hawk (RQ-4), Reaper (MQ-9) and Bayraktar from Turkey, as opposed to modern manned aircraft.

“This was eloquently demonstrated by the destruction of more than 100 Bayraktars delivered to Ukraine during the entire period of the special military operation,” he said. The Bayraktar UAVs were very effective in combat in Nagorno-Kharabakh. However, Russian air defenses seem to have a solution for this type of weapon.

Lieutenant General Andrey Demin also said that the Russian Air Defense Forces (PVO) are also studying the issue of protecting the northwestern border after Finland joins NATO: “Under these conditions, we are studying the issues of protecting the country's northwestern national border in accordance with the increase in threats.”

On the same day, in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV channel (Russia), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented: "The West does not tend to bring up the topic of US nuclear weapons in Europe, around our country. But in this case, they tend to react hysterically to our plan to build a tactical nuclear weapons storage facility on Belarusian territory."

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus at Minsk's request, as the US has long done on the territory of its allies. He also stressed that the parties were not discussing the transfer of weapons. According to the Russian leader, the construction of a tactical nuclear weapons storage facility on Belarusian territory will be completed by July 1.

Also in the above interview, Mr. Peskov said that the difference between the US and Russia in global issues is that Washington wants everyone to "follow the rules", but Moscow wants all parties to "follow international law".

“These are different things, because laws are universal in nature, while rules are established by someone. But the United States feels that everyone should follow their lead and abide by the rules they have established. That is the difference,” Peskov said.