MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/. A NATO Bombardier Challenger 650 Artemis II reconnaissance and target acquisition aircraft has again been spotted over the Black Sea neutral waters where it is again shuttling from west to east and back, a source in the EU air traffic control services told TASS.

"The aircraft is flying in the southern part of the sea from west to east and back over neutral waters, not entering the airspace of any countries," the source said. He noted that the plane took off from the base airfield in Constanta, Romania, passing through the airspace controlled by Romanian and Bulgarian air traffic controllers, and began flying over neutral waters. "The Bombardier Challenger 650 Artemis II is at an altitude of just over 9.7 kilometers and is flying outside the established civil aviation routes," the source said.

The source recalled that last Saturday, the reconnaissance aircraft performed an unusually short flight over neutral waters in the west part of the Black Sea that lasted about 40 minutes. After that it took off again and flew several times along the water area from west to east and back on the same route it is currently following.

In recent months, the Bombardier Challenger 650 Artemis II aircraft has been repeatedly detected over the southern part of the Black Sea. In addition, a NATO RQ-4D Phoenix strategic reconnaissance drone, taking off from the Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, was detected flying over the Black Sea for the first time in nearly three months. It also made several circles in the southern part of the waters from west to east.