**Russia Scrambles Jets to Prevent US Bombers from Approaching Border**
On Sunday, Russia reported scrambling fighter jets to prevent two US strategic bomber planes from crossing its border over the Barents Sea in the Arctic.
The US military routinely conducts flights over international waters, asserting that these operations are carried out in neutral airspace and comply with international law.
However, Moscow has responded more aggressively to these exercises recently, warning in June that US drone flights over the Black Sea could potentially lead to a “direct” military clash.
The Russian defense ministry stated that it had scrambled fighter jets to intercept an “air target approaching the state border of the Russian Federation.”
“The crews of the Russian fighters identified the aerial target as a pair of US Air Force B-52H strategic bombers,” the ministry said. “As the Russian fighters approached, the American strategic bombers corrected their flight course, moving away and then turning away from Russia’s state border.”
In June, Moscow accused the United States of using its reconnaissance drone flights over neutral waters in the Black Sea to assist Ukraine in striking the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula. It stated that these flights increased the risk of a “direct confrontation” between NATO and Russia and that its military had been instructed to prepare an “operational response”【AFP】.