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DRONE ATTACK: The aircraft were operated from a US Poseidon-8 spy plane, it is claimed (Pic: WIKIPEDIA)
Russia has accused the US of deploying the drones of a Poseidon-8 plane reconnaissance that was patrolling the Mediterranean Sea near the war-torn country.
The 13 drones launched an attack on Hmeymim airbase, Russia's main strategic center of operations in the Syrian civil war, it is claimed.
Russia's deputy defense minister Alexander Fomin said the drones had been "destroyed" after "penetrating" the base, near the city of Latakia in Hmeimim, Latakia Governorate.
"Thirteen drones moved to a common battlefield deployment, operated by a single crew during the American Poseidon-8 plane reconnaissance patrolled the Mediterranean Sea area for eight hours," Colonel General Fomin said.
Dmitry Peskov, the official spokesperson for president Vladimir Putin, said he was "alarmed" by the US military's drone attack.
PENETRATION: Fomin said the drones were destroyed during the attack (Pic: GETTY)
He did not rule out the possibility of Putin and US President Donald Trump discussing the allegations during their next meeting, scheduled for November 11 in Paris.
The US Department of Defense is yet to be written on the allegations made by Russia's ministry of defense.
Fomin said the drones "switched to manual mode" when they were repelled by "electronic countermeasures" at the Russia based, it was a deliberate attack.
"Manual guidance is made by locals, but by the Poseidon-8," he said.
The alleged attack on Hmeimim Airbase, where the Russian Air Force is supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war, happened on January 6 this year.
"Manual guidance is carried out by some villagers"
Russia's deputy defense minister Alexander Fomin
Russian forces thwarted the swarm attack – said to be first of this kind in the history of warfare – Involving 13 armed, fixed-wing drones.
Radio-electronic warfare technology has been used in the context of the high-tech capabilities of satellite navigation and remote control.
The explosive allegations threaten to worsen relations between Moscow and Washington amid outrage over the Trump administration's vow to withdraw from a nuclear missile treaty.
Trump said it is intended to be unilaterally left to the Soviet-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which prohibits land-based intermediate-range cruise missiles.
In response, Putin issued a chilling warning to European countries considering US nuclear missiles banned under the treaty.
DRONE: An MQ-9 Reaper flies over Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada (Pic: GETTY)
Speaking at a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday, Putin said they would be in "serious danger" from a strike in the event of nuclear escalation.
He said: "If the United States is withdrawing from the treaty, the main question is what they will do with these [intermediate-range] missiles that will once again appear.
"If they will deliver to Europe, it will be easy to understand that they are putting their own territory at risk of counter-strike . "
LOCATION: Hmeimim Air Base is a syrian airbase currently operated by Russia (Pic: WIKIPEDIA)
Last week, Putin said a nuclear strike against Russia would unleash a "global disaster"because "retaliation is inevitable" on the part of his country.
Appearing at an international policy forum in Sochi, Putin said Russia would only launch a "retaliatory strike" if early warning systems detected missiles had been fired at the country.
He said, if such a scenario was to become reality, "it would naturally mean a global catastrophe".
