by AUBREY REBELO
Staff Writer
On Monday night, two Russian bomber planes flew about one hundred miles off the Alaskan coast, the first time since President Trump took office that Moscow has sent warplanes so close to the United States. The air force base sent American jets up that flew alongside the Russian bombers for several minutes. The Russian planes broke off and headed back to their base in eastern Russia, a Lieutenant reported. Again, Wednesday night a pair of Russian spy planes flew near the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea area staying in the U.S. Air Defense Zone for a couple hours before departing back to their base in Russia. Thursday night, a pair of long-range, nuclear-capable Bear bombers flew near Alaska and Canada staying in the United States and Canada’s air defense zone for hours. Other than the first incident, the U.S. Air Force did not fear their safety and send any fighter jets or airborne warning planes (AWACS). The Russian jets in all three incidents remained in international airspace, due to it not being immediately clear how close they came to mainland Alaska.
Russia now has flown bombers or spy planes near Alaska for four consecutive nights this week, the Russian action came less than a week after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and President Trump said U.S./Russian relations had reached a “low point”. It was confirmed that the last time Russian bombers came this close to the U.S. was on July 4, 2015 when a pair of Russian bombers flew 40 miles off the coast of California.