Moscow says U.S. Air Force planes have escorted four Russian nuclear-capable bombers as they patrolled an area close to the Bering Strait that divides Russia's Chukotka Peninsula and the state of Alaska.
Russia's Defense Ministry said on June 17 that the United States had scrambled F-22 fighters to escort the four Russian strategic TU-95MS bombers, which were over international waters around Chukotka, the Bering Strait, and the Sea of Okhotsk.
"At certain stages of the route, Russian planes were escorted by the U.S. Air Force F-22 fighters, " the ministry said, adding that the patrol flight lasted for about 11 hours.
On June 10, the U.S. air-defense command said its fighter jets intercepted Russian jets and bombers twice off the coast of Alaska.
A month earlier, the U.S. Navy said two Russian Su-35 fighter jets flew in an unsafe and unprofessional manner while intercepting a U.S. Navy P-8A maritime patrol aircraft over international waters in the eastern Mediterranean.