US and Russian warplanes came face to face in the skies after Putin sent two Tu-95MS nuclear bombers toward the Alaskan coast.
The air encounter came amid anger in Moscow as the US resumed major arms shipments Ukraine as part of a $61 billion war aid package.
Russia's Defense Minister Admitted Landing Their Strategic Bombers 'Near the Alaskan Coast' at the Eleventh Hour flight above the Bering Sea.
Moscow said that “at certain stages the missile carriers were accompanied by fighter jets from abroad.”
It is unclear which other foreign state could have sent its planes to monitor the Russian mission – the other closest Western country would be Canada.
Now video footage has shown the moment US and Russian pilots came face to face during the flight.
Images from the Russian Defense Ministry show a fighter plane from the Alaska Air National Guard, part of the US Air Force, marked with the letters AK and the number 304 on the tail fin.
Moscow has since claimed that “all flights of the Russian Aerospace Forces are conducted in strict accordance with international rules on airspace use.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said: “Two Tu-95MS strategic missile-carrying bombers of the Long-Range Aviation of the Russian Space Force conducted a scheduled flight in the airspace over the neutral waters of the Bering Sea near the west coast of Alaska.”
The Tu-95 fleet is an integral part of Russia's nuclear arsenal, but the aircraft have also been used in devastating conventional missile attacks that have caused widespread destruction in Ukraine.
The Soviet-era Tu-95s first flew about 70 years ago but remain a mainstay of Russia's nuclear force.
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