Putin: US aircraft involved in Black Sea incident

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft was operating in sync with a British destroyer during last week’s Black Sea incident. Moscow said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the path of British destroyer Defender on Wednesday to force her out of an area near the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. Britain denied that account, insisted its ship wasn’t fired upon and said it was sailing in Ukrainian waters. Speaking Wednesday during a marathon live call-in show, Putin said that the U.S. aircraft’s apparent mission was to monitor the Russian military’s response to the British destroyer.