MOSCOW. April 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Over 6,500 servicemen of the airborne troops, navy and Land Forces air defense are on combat duty in the national air defense network every day, Air Force Chief-of-Staff Colonel General Boris Cheltsov told Interfax- Military News Agency on Thursday.
"Air defense assets tracked over 40,00 aircraft including some 21,000 foreign ones from January to March this year, and warplanes and air scouts were among them," Cheltsov said.
Eight violations of the Russian aerial border were exposed in three months, he noted.
"Most of them were made by were small balloons that took off from adjacent countries. We investigate each case. Direct communication with our colleagues from Finland and Norway facilitates the work in Northwestern Russia. It helps us adequately respond and fully control the situation," Cheltsov stressed.
The intensity of combat duty has increased lately on southern borders, in particular, due to numerous flights of U.S. U-2 strategic air scouts in the Georgian airspace near Russia.
"We have taken adequate measures, we track and see those planes, and our interceptors fly along the border simultaneously. This is done not to threaten somebody, but to protect our border in case of conflict," Cheltsov said.
"I think such incidents are unwelcome in the contemporary world," he noted.
According to him, "fighter aviation crews, air defense missile and radio-technical troops are often put on high alert on other sections of the state aerial border, too."