MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/: Two Russian Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic missile-carrying bombers performed a scheduled flight over the neutral waters of the Arctic and the northern part of the Far East, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.
"Two Tu-95MS strategic missile-carrying bombers of long-range aviation performed a scheduled flight in the airspace over the neutral waters of the Chukchi, Beaufort, Bering and Okhotsk Seas. The flight lasted about 12 hours," the statement says.
At some sections of the route, the bombers were escorted by Su-35S fighters of Russia’s Aerospace Force, MiG-31 aircraft of the Russian Navy’s naval aviation, and also by US Air Force F-22 fighter jets, the ministry said.
The pilots of Russia’s long-range aviation regularly perform flights over the neutral waters of the Arctic, the Northern Atlantic, the Black and Baltic Seas and the Pacific Ocean, the statement says.
"The aircraft of Russia’s Aerospace Force perform all the flights in strict compliance with the international rules of using the airspace," the Defense Ministry stressed.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) reported earlier on Tuesday that US Air Force fighter aircraft intercepted two Russian Tu-95 bombers escorted by two Su-35 fighters near Alaskan shores on Monday evening. NORAD said in a statement that all the Russian aircraft remained in the international airspace and at no time entered sovereign airspace.
