Russian and Chinese strategic bombers carried out a joint patrol of Far East Russia and the Bering Sea near Alaska, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday.
“An aviation group of Russian Aerospace Forces Tu-95MS strategic missile carriers and the Chinese air force's Xian H-6 strategic bombers performed an aerial patrol over the Chukchi and Bering Seas and the north Pacific Ocean,” the military said in a statement.
A video accompanying the statement showed planes taking off at night, flying in formation and landing during the day. Moscow said the five-hour flight did not breach any country’s airspace, but noted that “at separate stages of the route, the aviation group was accompanied by fighter jets of foreign countries.”
The U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command said late Wednesday that its warplanes intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers in international airspace near Alaska.
American F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, as well as Canadian CF-18 fighter jets, performed the intercept, CNN reported, citing an anonymous U.S. defense official. This was the first time that Russian and Chinese aircraft were intercepted together, the official said.
NORAD said the bombers “remained in international airspace” and were “not seen as a threat.”
Moscow and Beijing said the joint patrol was not aimed at any “third party,” with authorities in Russia calling it part of the 2024 military cooperation plan. It was the eighth such Russian-Chinese patrol since 2019, according to Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang.
Wednesday's flight came days after Moscow said the United States sent its own strategic bombers close to Russian airspace. Russia said Sunday that it scrambled fighter jets to prevent two U.S. strategic bomber planes from crossing its border over the Barents Sea in the Arctic.
The U.S. military routinely carries out flights over international waters, operations that it says are conducted in neutral airspace.
AFP contributed reporting.
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