News / Interviews

US interception flights far more provocative than Russia’s: Analyst

Friday, 24 May 2019 1:03 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 24 May 2019 12:14 PM ]

An F-22 Raptor escorts a Russian TU-95 Bear flying near the Alaskan NORAD Region airspace in a file photo. (Air Force)

American interception flights are far more provocative when they shadow Russian planes than similar Russian flights, according to James Jatras, a former US Senate policy adviser and diplomat.

US fighter jets have intercepted six Russian military aircraft in international airspace off the western coast of Alaska and shadowed them until they exited the area, according to American authorities.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) made the announcement in a statement on Tuesday, saying that US F-22 stealth jets intercepted four Russian Tupolev Tu-95 bombers and two Russian Su-35 fighter jets after they had entered the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which extends approximately 320 kilometers off Alaska's western coast.

The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed the incident in a tweet on Tuesday, saying the Tu-95 bombers "made scheduled sorties over the neutral waters of the Chukotka, Bering and Okhotsk seas, as well as along the western coast of Alaska and the northern coast of the Aleutian Islands."

PressTV-US fighter jets intercept Russian bombers off Alaska

US fighter jets have intercepted six Russian military aircraft in international airspace off the western coast of Alaska and shadowed them until they exited the area.

James told Press TV on Thursday, “The American media is making much of the interception of Russian warplanes off our coast in Alaska being shadowed by American fighters which is what their job is. And of course the Russians do the same thing when American and other NATO countries’ planes come near their airspace.”

“I think there is one big difference here however is that Alaska is pretty far from our main home porting of our fleet, for example these Russian planes were that close to for example to Norfolk or to San Diego, it would be a much closer analogy to the kind of shadowing our forces do outside the Russian waters near the Black Sea, Crimea and in the Baltic Sea, near Saint Petersburg. So they talk about this being provocative by the Russians to have these flights but nobody here wants to admit that our flights are far more provocative,” he stated.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk