Russian Air Force Scrambles Fighters to Intercept US B-52H Bombers Over Sea of Okhotsk

Sputnik News

07:12 GMT 19.06.2020(updated 07:45 GMT 19.06.2020)

The General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces previously stated that the Defence Ministry had registered intensified military activity by the US and its NATO allies near the Russian border.

The Russian Air Force has scrambled fighters to intercept US B-52N bombers over the Sea of Okhotsk, the Russian National Defence Management Centre said in a statement on Friday. The centre added that the US jets had not violated Russia's borders.

"The US Air Force aircraft were continuously escorted by Russian control means at a significant distance from the Russian state border", the Management Centre said in a press release.

The centre added that Su-30, Su-35, and MiG-31 were deployed to intercept the US warplanes.

Over the past week and a half, the US has twice scrambled fighters to escort Russia's Tu-95MS strategic fighters in the same area, in the vicinity of the Russian-US border.

Earlier this week, the Russian military spotted US B-52H bombers and surveillance planes over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea and scrambled fighter jets to escort them.

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