(Moscow) Russia said Sunday it had dispatched fighter jets to prevent two U.S. strategic bombers from crossing its border over the Barents Sea in the Arctic.
The U.S. military regularly conducts flights over international waters, operations it says are conducted in neutral airspace and in accordance with international law.
But Moscow has responded more aggressively to the exercises in recent months, warning in June that U.S. drone flights over the Black Sea risked leading to a “direct” military confrontation.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had dispatched fighter jets to intercept an “air target approaching the border of the Russian Federation.”
“Russian fighter crews identified the air target as two US Air Force B-52H strategic bombers,” he added.
“As the Russian fighters approached, the American strategic bombers corrected their flight path, moving away from and then turning away from the Russian border,” he added.
In June, Moscow accused the United States of using its reconnaissance drone flights over neutral Black Sea waters to help Ukraine strike the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
He said the flights increased the risk of a “direct confrontation” between NATO and Russia, and that his military had been instructed to prepare an “operational response.”