Russian fighter pilots involved in an incident with a US drone that resulted in its crash will be given state awards, the Defence Ministry announced Friday. The move appears to signal Moscow’s intention to adopt a more aggressive stance toward future US surveillance flights.

  The US military said it ditched the Air Force MQ-9 Reaper in the Black Sea on Tuesday after a pair of Russian fighter jets dumped fuel on the surveillance drone and then one of them struck its propeller while it was flying in international airspace.

Moscow has denied that its warplanes hit the drone, alleging that it crashed while making a sharp maneuver. It said that its warplanes reacted to a violation of a no-flight zone Russia has established in the area near Crimea amid the fighting in Ukraine.

On Friday, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu lauded the pilots for preventing the drone from flying into the area that Moscow has banned for flights. The Defence Ministry said the ban was “in line with international norms.”

 Moscow’s announcement comes a day after the US military released a declassified 42-second colour footage showing a Russian Su-27 fighter jet approaching the back of the US drone and releasing fuel as it passes in what appeared to be aimed at blinding the drone’s optical instruments to drive it from the area.

 On a second approach, either the same jet or another Russian Su-27 that had been shadowing the MQ-9 struck the drone’s propeller, damaging a blade, according to the US military, which said it then ditched the aircraft in the sea.  The video excerpt does not show the collision, although it does show the damage to the propeller.