Two US F-22 jet fighters have shadowed Russian Tu-95 long-range bombers training over neutral waters of the Arctic Ocean, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced.
“The Russian Air Force’s Tu-95MS strategic bomber aircraft have carried out scheduled flights over neutral waters in Arctic Ocean as well as the Bering and Okhotsk Seas. The aircraft were escorted by two US Air Force F-22 fighter jets on certain legs of their route,” said the ministry in a Friday statement as cited in a report by Russia’s Interfax news agency.
According to the statement, Russian long-range bombers often carry out routine patrols over the Arctic and the Atlantic as well as the Baltic Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
It further stressed that such sorties are carried out “in strict compliance with international regulations without violating foreign borders.”
US-based news website Washington Free Beacon reported earlier on the encounter, citing a NORAD spokesman…