Russia Steps Up Bomber Exercises Near Alaska and CanadaLast update: 10/1/2007 7:10:44 PMANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)--Russian warplane exercises around Alaska have become routine in the past few months, U.S. military officials said Monday, as the former Cold War superpower steps up flights from its Arctic bases. Over the summer, Russian bombers have staged at least seven exercises in a buffer zone outside U.S. air space, each time alerting the U.S. through reports by Russian state news agencies, said Maj. Allen Herritage, a spokesman for the Alaska region of the North American Aerospace Defense Command. U.S. and Canadian fighter jets, including F-15s, were dispatched each time to escort the Russian planes in the exercises, which ranged from two to six aircraft, Herritage said. The latest exercise came Sept. 19 when Russia sent two planes, Herritage said. They were met by Canadian planes from NORAD, which is jointly operated by the U.S. and Canadian militaries. "They used to have them from time to time, but not nearly in this frequency," Herritage said. "These exercises used to be more common during the Cold War." Recent Russian bomber exercises have taken place off Alaska's Aleutian Islands and northwest coast and have gone near Canada, Herritage said. The exercises come amid troubled relations between Russia and the West and are seen by some as intimidating moves by an increasingly assertive Russia. President Vladimir Putin announced in August that Russia was resuming long-range bomber flights over the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans for the first time since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Russian Air Force officials could not be reached for comment after hours. They have repeatedly said that the planes were not violating any nation's airspace or any international agreements. (END) Dow Jones Newswires
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