Moscow and Beijing said the patrols were in line with international law and did not violate foreign airspace
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has described the joint operation of Russian and Chinese bombers in international airspace near the Alaskan coast as a sign of their expanding military cooperation, expressing Washington’s “concern” over the development.
On Wednesday, two Russian Tupolev TU-95 long-range bombers and two Chinese H-6 bombers were tracked and intercepted by US and Canadian fighter jets. The aircraft conducted joint air patrols over the waters of the Chukchi and Bering Seas, as well as the North Pacific.
According to the Pentagon chief, this marked the first time Chinese bomber aircraft have flown within the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, and the first time Chinese and Russian jets have taken off from the same base in northeast Russia.
“This is the first time that we’ve seen these two countries fly together,” Austin told a press conference on Thursday. “This is a relationship that we have been concerned about throughout – mostly because we’re concerned about China providing support to Russia’s illegal and unnecessary war in Ukraine,” he stated.
Both Moscow and Beijing have refuted Western allegations that Beijing has been supplying Russia with dual-use components that could be used to produce weapons for the Ukraine conflict.
Austin asserted that Wednesday’s flight was “not a surprise,” suggesting that Moscow and Beijing had likely planned it for some time.
The aircraft came within approximately 200 miles (320km) of the US coast, but did not enter either US or Canadian airspace, according to the Pentagon chief.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Thursday that the crews “worked out issues of interaction at all stages of air patrol in the new area of joint operations.” It emphasized that the patrols, which lasted over five hours, were conducted in accordance with international law.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang informed reporters that the flight was the eighth “joint air strategic patrol” carried out by the two nations since 2019. The exercise was “not directed at any third party” and is “unrelated to the current international and regional situation,” it stated.
Russia frequently conducts flights near US airspace and also monitors US and NATO flights near its own airspace. In recent years, Russia has dispatched its jets to escort American fighters and bombers away from its borders on numerous occasions.