Russia's Aerospace Defense Force (VKO) has recently detected on the orbit a group of reconnaissance satellites spying on Russia, commander of the Space Command Maj. Gen. Oleg Maidanovich said Sunday.

"Recently the staff of the Main Space Intelligence Center detected a group of newly launched satellites. The group was set to collect intelligence on the devices located on the territory of the Russian Federation," Maidanovich told Russia's Zvezda TV channel.

He said there was no need to specify the country of origin of the satellites.

He added that the Main Space Intelligence Center monitors about 20,000 space objects out of a total number of 100,000 on the Earth's orbit. Russia has more than 140 space objects.

The mission of the Main Space Intelligence Center located in the Moscow Region is to detect satellites, maintain the catalogue of space objects and provide intelligence.

Source: Sputnik News