[nuconvert]

I think you're missing the point, that this Vasiliev is writing this after the fact, and saying that they WERE spy missions, not that they may have been mistaken for spy missions. Big difference.

[ScreamingFist]

Vasiliev....said they were probably spy missions used by the U.S. to test Soviet air defense and command capabilities.

If a commercial airliner "accidentally" penetrates Russian airspace and an American RC-135 is collecting data of the event, is that spying? That would be the Russian point of view regarding this matter....