MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/. Russian air defense quick reaction alert forces detected and intercepted over 1,300 foreign spy planes in 2020, Aerospace Force Deputy Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant-General Andrei Yudin said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on Friday.

"Air defense alert forces detected and tracked over 1.5 million airliners, including about 3,600 foreign combat planes and over 1,300 spy aircraft," the general said.

The Russian fighter aircraft from air defense quick reaction alert forces were scrambled over 170 times to intercept foreign planes near Russia’s borders, he said.

No violations of Russia’s state border were allowed, the general stressed.

The Russian aircraft performed all their flights in compliance with the rules of using the airspace, the general said.