Kiev to Hold Missile-firing Exercise over Crimea’s Civil Aviation Zone

Local Editor

Ukraine made a unilateral decision to organize missile-firing exercises over Crimea, in the sovereign airspace of the Russian Federation, Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency Rosaviatsiya reported. Missiles will be fired in regions where civil and state aviation flights run.

Kiev's move breaches a number of international laws and agreements, Rosaviatsiya said, adding that not only will the military exercise invade Russian territory, but the plans also had not been coordinated with Moscow.

On Friday, Russia's Defense Ministry voiced protests against Kiev's intention to apply restrictions to airspace above the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula due to missile-launching training.

The ministry summoned Ukraine's military attaché, to present him with an official diplomatic note.

Ukraine released an aviation notification on Thursday, activating "dangerous zones" in all flight levels near Crimea and the city of Simferopol for December 1 and 2, the agency reported.

It added that the "dangerous" areas included airspace above open sea which is in Russia's area of responsibility, and over Russian territorial waters.

The notifications released have not been coordinated with the appropriate Russian authorities, Rosaviatsiya said in its statement.

It added that such unilateral moves demonstrate Ukraine's unwillingness to work on the normalization of air traffic above the Black Sea.

Kiev also violated annexes of the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation, the agency said, while demanding the immediate cancellation of the planned actions in Russia's sovereign airspace.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army refused to comment on the matter, TASS reported. The head of the staff press service, Vladislav Seleznyov, told the agency it was not his department's responsibility to "comment on this information," and referred the outlet to other Ukrainian officials, including the Foreign Ministry, for more information.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team