Despite the intensive development of aeronautics in the major European powers in the second half of the 19th century and the use of balloons for reconnaissance on the battlefields of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870—1871, the Military Ministry of the Russian Empire did not take into account the relevant combat experience. Subsequently, the Criminal Code of 1903 did not undergo immediate changes either (Section IV. “Treason”), although the unauthorized entry of foreign balloons into the Western European borderlands of Russia already required a criminal-legal response from the gendarmes and justice authorities. The law on espionage, adopted on July 5, 1912, for all the historical importance of its provisions, did not become a reliable barrier in the way of German and Austrian aeronauts who collected relevant and diverse military information in Russia and, in particular, the border provinces of the Warsaw Military District. With the outbreak of hostilities on the Eastern Front, the “pre-war” legislative framework for combating enemy aerial reconnaissance was not improved, and “wartime laws” replaced the legal norms. The normative legal basis and measures of counteraeronautical suppression of the actions of foreign aerial reconnaissance in the territory of the Privislinsky region are characterized. It is concluded that the efforts made to prevent air intruders (air spies) of the western state border of the Russian Empire, and soon — the line of contact of the warring parties, were distinguished by belatedness and disproportionate effect expected from them.