MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/. A Swedish Air Force aircraft spent more than four hours over the Black Sea, conducting radar reconnaissance over neutral waters in the southern part of the sea, a source in the European Union’s air traffic control services told TASS.

"A Swedish Air Force electronic reconnaissance aircraft spent just over four hours in the skies over the Black Sea, flying back and forth across the southern part of the waterway from west to east and back," the source said. The aircraft is a Gulfstream S102B Korpen, which flew in from the Malmen Airbase, passing over the Baltic Sea and several European Union countries. "The aircraft operated at an altitude of about 12.5 km outside the routes designated for civil aviation, after which it set course for its departure airfield," the source noted, emphasizing that the aircraft did not enter the airspace of any coastal countries.

Earlier, the source also reported that flights by Swedish reconnaissance aircraft in the Black Sea region are recorded quite rarely. However, overall, the trajectory of Monday’s flight mirrored the route of the NATO reconnaissance aircraft Bombardier ARTEMIS II, which is regularly spotted over the region.