Days after shooting down unidentified aerial objects, the US and Canada scrambled fighter jets to intercept four Russian warplanes as they buzzed North American airspace.
The group of Russian long-range bombers and fighters were detected on Monday by the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) – the combined US-Canada organisation that provides shared defence of airspace over the two nations – as they approached Alaska.
NORAD said the incident was a routine event and did not pose a threat.
The Russian flight was also not related to the suspected Chinese spy balloons shot down by the US Air Force over North America during recent weeks.
Two American F-16 warplanes intercepted four Russian aircraft – which included a Tu-95 bomber and Su-35 fighter aircraft – near Alaska.
“Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,” a NORAD statement said.
It added Russian activity “occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, nor is the activity seen as provocative”.
The interception of the Russian aircraft came as the US military confirmed that the sensors from the first suspected Chinese spy balloon had been recovered from the Atlantic Ocean.
Experts from the FBI are examining the items, which the US says were used to spy on sensitive military sites.
Read Related Also: Tariq, AKA ‘Corn Kid’, Adorably Interviews Drew Barrymore And Savannah Guthrie
The downing of the balloon on February 4 has been followed by a further three unidentified objects being shot down over North American air space.
The succession of objects, starting with a giant white orb first detected over US skies in late January, has puzzled American officials and stirred curiosity around the world.
Last Friday, NORAD detected and shot down another object near sparsely populated Deadhorse, Alaska.
Later that evening, NORAD detected a third object flying at a high altitude over Alaska.
It crossed into Canadian airspace on Saturday and was over the Yukon, a remote territory, when it was ordered shot down by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
On Sunday, the US military confirmed another unidentified object had been shot down by fighter jets over Lake Huron on the US-Canada border.
Trudeau said on Monday the search in Yukon was of a “fairly large area” in dense wilderness.
Countries with the highest military expenditure in the world
Sign up here to receive our daily newsletters and breaking news alerts, sent straight to your inbox.
