The Aeroflot plane, which flew from Tel Aviv to Moscow, and another passenger airliner had to change course due to a NATO reconnaissance plane that crossed the route established for civilian ships, the Federal Air Transport Agency said

The Russian aviation authorities have expressed a diplomatic protest over the frequent flights of NATO aircraft near the country’s borders, the press service of the Federal Air Transport Agency told RBC.

The agency points to the safety of domestic aircraft in the Black Sea area.

One of such cases was reported by the Federal Air Transport Agency on Friday morning, December 3. Then the NATO CL-600 reconnaissance aircraft performed a flight with an intensive descent from an altitude of 11 thousand to an altitude of 9.2 thousand meters, crossing the routes of civil aircraft. The incident took place over the open waters of the Black Sea, near the Russian air traffic services, the department emphasized. At the same time, the crew did not respond to requests from air traffic services.

Two civilian aircraft are to fly in the same area: the A333 of Aeroflot, which operates a flight from Tel Aviv to Moscow, and the Maltese CL650, which en route from Sochi to Skopje (North Macedonia). In connection with the ongoing route of the liners, it was said in the Federal Air Transport Agency. “Russian air traffic controllers perform safe flights in the specified area over the open waters of the Black Sea,” the department said.