US diverts four Russian warplanes flying near Alaska

The US diverted four Russian aircraft flying near Alaska Monday in what government officials called a “routine intercept.”

The North American Aerospace Defense Command said Tuesday that it “detected, tracked, positively identified” the four aircraft, which included TU-95 BEAR-H bombers and SU-35 fighter jets.

“NORAD had anticipated this Russian activity and, as a result of our planning, was prepared to intercept it,” the agency said in a statement.

Though the aircraft were operating within the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, they remained in international airspace.

The interference occurred just hours after two Dutch fighter jets intercepted a formation of three Russian military aircraft near Poland’s NATO airspace and escorted them out.

NORAD sent five of its own jets to escort the aircraft away from North American airspace and determined that the jets were not a threat — Russian aircraft flying in the vicinity is a regular occurrence, according to the command.

“NORAD also assessed that this Russian flight activity is in no way related to recent NORAD and U.S. Northern Command operations associated with airborne objects over North America during the last two weeks,” the agency said.

Four different “flying objects” have been shot down over US and Canadian airspace since early February.

President Biden ordered the Air Force to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon on Feb. 4 — eight days and more than 4,000 miles after it first breached the US border. The State Department said the object was equipped with antennas capable of collecting communications signals and other intelligence-gathering equipment.

Between Feb. 10 and 12, the US shot down three more suspicious objects — one over Alaska on Friday, the second over northwestern Canada on Saturday and the third over Lake Huron on Sunday.

None of the objects have been tied to China or any other country.

Biden has been largely quiet about the flying objects floating over US airspace, though National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday that the White House has been “as transparent as we can be” about the situation.

With Post wires