Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much for appearing at our committee today. We appreciate your time.
In your opening comments, you mentioned, and your own military sources have been quoted as saying, that these flights are routine training missions and that Canada is routinely notified in advance. As you also mentioned, the American general from NORAD said they were notified. But Canadian sources, including a member of this Standing Committee on National Defence, have disputed this and have said that Canada was not informed in advance. I'm rather perplexed by this contradiction. It seems to me that it's a matter of fact and we should be able to straighten that out. It's kind of concerning that there's such a breakdown in communication between Canada and Russia at the diplomatic end or at the military level.
Could you tell us the process that occurs on your end, the Russian end, to notify the Canadian government before one of these flights occurs, in terms of how far in advance this notification is sent, from what department it's sent, and from what level of that department the notification is sent? What form does this notification take? Also, what steps, if any, are taken to ensure that the notification has been received at the other end?
I have another question, so I'd appreciate it if you'd give me enough time to give you that question as well. Thank you.