NATO reconnaissance aircraft once again operating over Black Sea

MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/. A NATO Bombardier Challenger 650 Artemis II reconnaissance and target acquisition aircraft is once again operating over neutral waters in the southern Black Sea, a source in EU air traffic control circles told TASS.

"The aircraft, which departed from Constanta, Romania, is currently flying over the Black Sea at an altitude of over 10 kilometers, remaining outside the airspace of any country," the source said. The flight path, he added, is from west to east and back, without using the corridors designated for civil aviation.

The source did not specify the flight’s intended purpose, but pointed out that the same aircraft circled around the Kaliningrad Region for two consecutive days last week, using Lithuanian and Polish airspace, as well as sectors over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea. It also flew over the Baltic states, making several circles over the central regions of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. However, it did not near the borders of Russia and Belarus.

The Bombardier Challenger 650 Artemis II has been observed over the Black Sea repeatedly in recent months, with several flights even taking place on weekends, which seldom occurred before.