Moscow Demands Kiev Stop Preparation of Missile Drills in Crimean Airspace

Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) said Friday it had sent a protest note to the Ukrainian authorities demanding that Kiev stop immediately the preparation of missile drills that violate Russian airspace.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Rosaviatsia said earlier on Friday that Ukraine had unilaterally decided to hold missile firing exercises in Russia's airspace near Crimean city of Simferopol.

"Ukraine is violating basic principles of civil aviation, which demand prior coordination of closing airspace with bordering countries," Rosaviatsia spokesman Sergei Izvolsky said in an interview with Rossiya-24 television.

"Rosaviatsia considers inadmissible attempts by foreign countries to introduce restricted zones to conduct missile firing drills on the territory of a sovereign state," Izvolsky stressed.