US and Canadian F-22 fighter jets scrambled to intercept six Russian military planes near Alaska

Six Russian military planes have been intercepted off the coast of Alaska as they approached North American airspace.

US and Canadian fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the aircraft in two incidents on Wednesday and Thursday, according to military officials.

The Russian planes - two MiG-31 fighters, two Bear long-range bombers and two IL-78 refuelling tankers - had entered America's air defence identification zone but not crossed into US air space.

Lt Col Michael Jazdyk, from the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), said the US jets intercepted the planes about 55 nautical miles from the Alaskan coast at 7pm local time on Wednesday.

He said the fighter jets were scrambled “basically to let those aircraft know that we see them and in case of a threat, to let them know we are there to protect our sovereign airspace”.

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