The BBC says a Russian pilot tried to shoot down a British plane over the Black Sea last year.

LONDON (AP) — A Russian pilot deliberately fired missiles at a Royal Air Force surveillance plane in international airspace over the Black Sea last year, the BBC reported Thursday, an incident that Russia previously attributed to a “ technical malfunction.”

The broadcaster said intercepted communications suggested that the pilot of a Russian Su-27 fighter jet fired on the unarmed British plane in September 2022 after receiving an ambiguous order from a Russian ground station and that his co-pilot attempted force him to stop.

The British Rivet Joint plane has sensors to intercept communications and its crew could have heard the incident.

Publicly, British officials have downplayed the incident. Then-UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told lawmakers in October that a Russian plane had “launched a missile in the vicinity” of a British plane and that he had demanded an explanation from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. He said Russia had responded that “it was a technical malfunction of the Su-27 fighter.”

“We do not view this incident as deliberate escalation by the Russians, and our analysis agrees that it was due to a malfunction,” Wallace said. He added that the RAF had resumed surveillance patrols over the Black Sea with fighter jet escorts.

Asked about Thursday’s report, the British Ministry of Defense said Wallace had “reported to the House of Commons within three weeks of the event occurring, in the interests of transparency and security.”

“Our intention has always been to protect the security of our operations, avoid unnecessary escalation and inform the public and the international community,” the ministry said. “This incident is a stark reminder of the potential consequences of Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine.”

A spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Max Blain, said the prime minister was confident Wallace had not misled lawmakers with his statement, adding: “There are obviously limitations on some of the operational details that can be put into the domain. public” for security reasons.