MINSK, November 25. /TASS/. The Belarusian Defense Ministry reported on Thursday that a decision was made to ramp up air defense quick reaction alert forces and carry out joint air patrols with Russian combat aircraft along the republic’s state border.

"In the wake of increasingly frequent cases of the flights by various aircraft near the state border of the Republic of Belarus and for the purpose of preventing the violation of the border in the airspace, a decision has been made to build up air defense quick reaction alert forces and carry out joint air patrols of the state border by the aircraft of the Air Force and Air Defense Troops of the Republic of Belarus and the Aerospace Force of the Russian Federation," the ministry said in a statement uploaded on its Telegram channel.

As the Belarusian Defense Ministry reported, a mixed tactical group comprising Su-30SM multirole fighters of Belarus and Russia conducted an air patrol along the state border of Belarus on Thursday.

As the Belarusian Defense Ministry reported earlier, its radio-technical and radar reconnaissance systems register a constant increase in the intensity of flights by NATO spy and combat planes along the state border of Belarus, including in Ukraine’s airspace. The flights by these aircraft have actually doubled lately and the number of US planes engaged in these operations has risen by 50%, the ministry specified.