After months of US spy planes violating Russian airspace in the Black Sea, the US reported having intercepted six Russian spy planes that were close to the Alaskan coast, and spent about five hours following them around.
The sets of Tu-142 planes got into the ADIZ, a zone off Alaska where the US planes attempt to identify them. They did not at any time enter the airspace of either the US or Canada, but just sort of stayed in the ADIZ.
The US also claimed that on Thursday they’d seen a Russian submarine that surfaced in international waters, but sort of near Alaska. Once again, there is no sign they actually got US waters, but it was still enough to put the US on-alert.
The Pentagon said this was unusual and “potentially carrying a message.” Russia hasn’t commented, though tthis may be related to the growing number of US spy planes getting chased away from the Russian coast.
US Intercepts Russian Spy Planes Flying Near Alaska
Planes never entered NORAD airspace
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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