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.
