Russia announced on Sunday that it scrambled fighter jets to prevent two US strategic bomber planes from crossing its border over the Barents Sea in the Arctic. The US military regularly conducts flights over international waters, maintaining that these operations are conducted in neutral airspace and in accordance with international law.
However, Moscow has increasingly responded aggressively to these exercises. In June, Russia warned that US drone flights over the Black Sea risked leading to a “direct” military clash.
The Russian defense ministry stated that it had scrambled fighter jets to intercept an “air target approaching the state border of the Russian Federation.” The crews identified the aerial target as a pair of US Air Force B-52H strategic bombers. “As the Russian fighters approached, the American strategic bombers corrected their flight course, moving away and then turning away from Russia’s state border,” the ministry said.
In June, Moscow accused the United States of using its reconnaissance drone flights over neutral waters in the Black Sea to aid Ukraine in striking the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula. Moscow stated that these flights increased the risk of a “direct confrontation” between NATO and Russia, and that its army had been instructed to prepare an “operational response.”
