INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia said Sunday that it scrambled fighter jets to prevent two United States strategic bomber planes from crossing its border over the
Barents Sea in the Arctic.The United States military routinely carries out flights over international waters, operations that it says are
conducted in neutral airspace and in accordance with international law.But Moscow has responded more aggressively to the exercises in recent
months, warning in June that United States drone flights over the Black Sea risked leading to a "direct" military clash.The Russian Defense
Ministry said it had scrambled fighter jets to intercept an "air target approaching the state border of the Russian Federation.""The crews
of the Russian fighters identified the aerial target as a pair of United States Air Force B-52H strategic bombers," it said."As the Russian
fighters approached, the American strategic bombers corrected their flight course, moving away and then turning away from Russia's state
border," it said.In June, Moscow accused the United States of using its reconnaissance drone flights over neutral waters in the Black Sea to
help Ukraine strike the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula.It said that the flights increased the risk of a "direct confrontation" between
NATO and Russia, and that its army had been instructed to prepare an "operational response."
