NATO reconnaissance aircraft performs several flights around Kaliningrad Region

MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/. A NATO Bombardier Challenger 650 Artemis II reconnaissance and target acquisition aircraft has performed several flights around Russia’s Kaliningrad Region, a source in the European Union’s air traffic control services told TASS.

"The aircraft circled around the Kaliningrad Region several times, using the airspace of Poland and Lithuania, as well as the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea," the source said, adding that the aircraft had arrived from an airfield in Constanta, Romania, where it is permanently based. "After making several circles, the aircraft headed back to its home airfield," the source said.

The source recalled that it was the Bombardier Challenger 650 Artemis II aircraft’s second flight on the same route since the beginning of this summer. In addition, the aircraft flew several times from south to north and back through the airspace of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, turning each time near the coast of the Gulf of Finland, but did not approach the border areas of these countries with Russia and Belarus. The aircraft was also repeatedly observed over the neutral waters of the Black Sea, flying from west to east of the waters and back, without entering the airspace of any countries.