The Russian news agency TASS reported that Admiral Oleg Gorinov, Deputy Head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria, stated that "a drone belonging to the US-led coalition in Syria came dangerously close to a Russian military aircraft, a Su-34, early this Friday." Gorinov clarified that "the incident involving a MQ-9 drone occurred over Raqqa province." He added: "The two Russian pilots, who exhibited high professionalism, immediately took the necessary actions to prevent a collision with the coalition drone."