MOSCOW. Dec 8 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Air Force chief-of-staff Colonel General Boris Cheltsov said that foreign reconnaissance aircraft maintained intensive flights along the Russian state border.
"As far as the intensity of reconnaissance flights along the Russian border is concerned, unfortunately, it remains high. Foreign reconnaissance aircraft constantly carry out reconnaissance flights along the Russian border," Cheltsov told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday.
For instance, he mentioned the flight of the U.S. Air Force Orion reconnaissance aircraft over the Black Sea in November.
"The U.S. aircraft have not carried out any flights there for a decade. It is clear that it was a reconnaissance flight. Our main task is prohibit reconnaissance aircraft from crossing the state border, and we have necessary forces and systems to this end," Cheltsov emphasized.
He also said that weather balloons had been reported to have breached the Russian airspace on several occasions.
"We are managing such incidents via diplomatic channels," Cheltsov said.
He noted that Air Force and Air Defense systems had been scrambled on such occasions to track such weather balloons, since they were still considered trespassers.