MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. A US-registered NATO reconnaissance aircraft is flying around Russia’s Kaliningrad Region for the second time since the start of this week, an air traffic control source told TASS.

"Since this morning, a NATO-owned Bombardier ARTEMIS II reconnaissance aircraft has been detected in the vicinity of the Kaliningrad Region. This is the second time this week that it has flown over the Kaliningrad Region in a circular pattern," the source said. He noted that the aircraft is flying in the airspace of Poland and Lithuania, as well as over areas of neutral waters in the Baltic Sea.

The previous flight of this reconnaissance aircraft, which is permanently based in Constanta, Romania, was recorded in the vicinity of the Russian region on October 6. "At that time, it circled for several hours before returning to its home airfield," the source noted. He emphasized that the Bombardier ARTEMIS II flies at an altitude of just over 10 km outside the civil aviation routes.

The source recalled that earlier this week, the same aircraft was also spotted over the neutral waters of the Black Sea, where it flew for nearly seven hours from west to east and back in the southern part of the water area. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, October 7, the Bombardier Artemis II was operating over the sea alongside a Swedish Air Force Gulfstream S102B Korpen radar intelligence aircraft. "The latter is currently circling over the Black Sea again," the source noted.