NATION

Russian jets intercept two US bombers over Black, Baltic Seas

Stepan Kravchenko
Bloomberg

Russian jets intercepted two U.S. strategic bombers over international waters of the Black and Baltic Seas Friday, the Defense Ministry said in an emailed statement.

Su-27 and Su-30 fighter jets followed the bombers at a safe distance and observing international rules until the B-1Bs changed their direction, according to the statement.

A Su-27 Russian fighter jet in this file photo from Wikipedia.

NATO jets were scrambled May 19 to intercept two Russian Tu-22 bombers that were approaching Romanian airspace. Russian planes flying close to NATO airspace were intercepted nearly 300 times in 2019, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said earlier, citing an unnamed North Atlantic Treaty Organization official.

Russia started assembling a prototype of a new stealth strategic bomber earlier this month, Tass reported.