Russian and Chinese bombers jointly operating in international airspace near the coast of Alaska is a sign of their expanding military cooperation, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said, adding that Washington is “concerned” by the development.
On Wednesday, two Russian Tupolev TU-95 long-range bombers and two Chinese H-6 bombers were tracked and intercepted by US and Canadian fighter jets. The aircrafts were carrying out joint air patrols over the waters of the Chukchi and Bering Seas, as well as the North Pacific.
According to the Pentagon chief, it was the first time that Chinese bomber aircraft have flown within the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, and the first time Chinese and Russian jets have taken off from the same base in northeast Russia.
“This is the first time that we’ve seen these two countries fly together,” Austin told a press conference on Thursday. “This is a relationship that we have been concerned about throughout – mostly because we’re concerned about China providing support to Russia’s illegal and unnecessary war in Ukraine,” he stated.
Both Moscow and Beijing have rejected Western allegations that Beijing has been supplying Russia with dual-use components that can be utilized to produce weapons for the Ukraine conflict.
Austin said the flight on Wednesday was “not a surprise,” adding that Moscow and Beijing had likely planned it for some time.
The aircraft came only within about 200 miles (320km) of the US coast and did not enter either US or Canadian airspace, according to the Pentagon chief.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Thursday that the crews “worked out issues of interaction at all stages of air patrol in the new area of joint operations.” It stressed that the patrols, which lasted over five hours, were conducted in accordance with international law.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang told reporters that the flight was the eighth “joint air strategic patrol” carried out by the two nations since 2019. The exercise was “not directed at any third party” and is “unrelated to the current international and regional situation,” it said.
Russia often conducts flights near US airspace and also monitors US and NATO flights near its own airspace too, and has sent its jets to escort American fighters and bombers away from its borders on numerous occasions in recent years.