American defense officials say two Russian strategic bombers reportedly conducted practice cruise missile strikes on the US during a training mission.
Washington Free Beacon reported on Monday the Tu-95 Bear bombers were tracked last week flying a route across the northern Atlantic near Iceland, Greenland, and Canada’s northeast.
The incident happened at the same time that world leaders participated at the NATO summit in Wales, according to the report.
The unnamed officials familiar with intelligence reports said analysis of the flight indicated the “jets were conducting practice runs to a pre-determined “launch box”—an optimum point for firing nuclear-armed cruise missiles at US targets,” the report said.
A spokesman for the US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command declined to comment on the matter.
The mission by Moscow comes as tensions have been rising between the United States and Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.
According to Northern Command, strategic bomber flights by Russia increased over the past six months.
In August, the US military said that at least 16 Russian bomber incursions occurred over a period 10 days within the northwestern US and Canadian air defense zones.
American fighter jets intercepted the Russian aircraft and followed them until they exited the defense zone.
Last month, commander of the US Strategic Command Admiral Cecil Haney said that he is concerned by Russian nuclear exercises and increased bomber flights near the US.
“Clearly, we at the US Strategic Command do monitor the strategic environment,” Haney said.
“I will say that the business of them coming close to the United States of America, we take very seriously,” he added.
