The US Navy's Boeing P-8 Poseidon was on a patrol mission in the area between the Russian Hmeimim airbase and Tartus naval base in Syria when militants attempted to attack the facilities using 13 drones, the ministry revealed on Tuesday.
"… This forces us to take a fresh look at the strange coincidence that, during the attack of UAV terrorists on Russian military facilities in Syria, the Navy reconnaissance aircraft Poseidon was on patrol over the Mediterranean Sea for more than 4 hours at an altitude of 7 thousand meters, between Tartus and Hmeimim," the ministry said.
READ MORE: Russian Military Prevents Drone Attack by Militants on Its Bases in Syria
After preventing the attack, the Russian military analyzed the design of and ammunition inside the seized UAVs, saying that such drones could have been supplied to the militants only by a country that is capable of "providing satellite navigation and remote control for the dropping of explosive devices." Later in the day, the Pentagon issued a statement saying that such drones could be bought on "the open market."
#SYRIA: The fact of using such strike aircraft-type drones by terrorists is the evidence that militants have received technologies to carry out terrorist attacks using such UAVs in any country.
— Минобороны России (@mod_russia) 8 января 2018 г.
Commenting on the Pentagon's statement, the Russian military expressed its concern over the remark that the technologies for attacking Russian military facilities are "easily accessible on the open market."
"What are those technologies that are being talked about?" the ministry asked. A spokesperson also called for the Pentagon to reveal where this market is "located and what special service is selling space reconnaissance data" to militants.
