MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. Russia’s Tupolev Tu-95 aircraft were escorted by two F-22 jets of the US Air Force at some section of the route, which did not approach them closer than 100 meters, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Saturday.

He noted that "the Tu-95MS strategic bombers operated by the [Russian] Aerospace Forces and the Tu-142 long-range anti-submarine aircraft operated by the Navy successfully performed a planned flight over the neutral waters of the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk on May 11." "At some section of the route the aircraft operated by the Russian Aerospace Forces that were carrying out a patrol flight were escorted by two F-22 jets of the US Air Force for 40 minutes, which did not approach them closer than 100 meters," he said.

According to Konashenkov, the crews of the Russian aircraft have fully accomplished their air patrol missions.

He added that Russia’s long-range and naval aviation pilots regularly performed flights over the neutral waters of the Arctic, the Atlantic, the Black Sea and the Pacific. All flights by Russian aircraft are performed in strict conformity with the international airspace rules, without any violations of other countries’ borders.