Trying Patience: Growing Number of Foreign Spy Planes Test Russia's Borders

Tensions in the world remain high as Russian military aircraft were scrambled at least six times last week to intercept foreign planes probing the country’s borders.

The warplanes of the Russian Aerospace Forces were called upon at least six times during the last week to intercept foreign aircraft approaching the country’s airspace, according to Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star), the official newspaper of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

A week before, Russian military aircraft were scrambled twice as many times, carrying out 14 sorties to intercept foreign surveillance flights.

It should be noted that during the past seven days foreign surveillance aircraft conducted at least 15 reconnaissance flights. Eight flights were performed by US Boeing RC-135 reconnaissance planes and RQ-4B Global Hawk UAVs; three flights were carried out by Swedish aircraft; and Norway and Japan sent two surveillance planes each to scout Russia’s borders.

Earlier Konstantin Sivkov, Russian military analyst and president of the Academy for Geopolitical Problems, told Sputnik that the number of surveillance flights intercepted near Russia’s borders by aircraft belonging to NATO and its allies is "unprecedented."

According to Sivkov, this activity may be related to the balance of power in the Syrian conflict, which is currently not in favor of the US and its allies.