MOSCOW, September 24. /TASS/. A NATO reconnaissance aircraft has been spotted flying over the neutral waters of the Black Sea since Thursday morning, a source in the EU air traffic control services told TASS.

"A NATO Bombardier ARTEMIS II reconnaissance aircraft took off about half an hour ago from Romania, where it is based at the Constanta airfield, and is currently flying over neutral waters in the southern part of the Black Sea," the source said. According to him, after entering the airspace over the Black Sea via the UDROS control point in the area under the jurisdiction of Bulgarian air traffic controllers, the aircraft began its mission.

"Most likely, it will fly for several hours along its standard route--from west to east across the Black Sea and back--without entering the airspace of any of the coastal countries," the source continued. He recalled that one day during this past summer, the Bombardier ARTEMIS II set a sort of record by spending nine hours over the Black Sea. Now, according to the source, the reconnaissance aircraft is flying outside the routes established for civil aviation at an altitude of about 10 km.

This reconnaissance aircraft is frequently detected over the neutral waters of the Black Sea, and it also periodically flies over the Baltic states, including off the Estonian coast of the Gulf of Finland. In addition, air traffic controllers have recorded its flights around Russia’s Kaliningrad Region, during which the aircraft uses the airspace of Lithuania and Poland, as well as the areas over the Baltic Sea neutral waters.