OREANDA-NEWS. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has increased the activity of its combat – and not only reconnaissance – aircrafts near the borders of Russia, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Colonel General Sergey Surovikin said.

“Previously, we mainly recorded the actions of reconnaissance aircrafts, but recently the number of combat aviation flights has increased,” the officer said at a briefing. According to him, from August 28 to September 4, US bombers made 10 single and group flights in the airspace of Western and Eastern Europe, as well as over adjacent sea areas. In general over August, Surovikin recalled, reconnaissance airplanes of NATO countries began to appear more than 30 % more often at the borders of Russia. Surovikin noted that the intensity of the use of the alliance’s reconnaissance aircrafts has “significantly” increased recently. In August, the aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces took off 27 times to intercept foreign reconnaissance planes over the Baltic, Barents, Black and Okhotsk seas, the Colonel General added.