Canada intercepts Russian bombers in the Arctic

It seems there was some excitement in the far north yesterday: Fighter jets were scrambled to intercept two Russian bombers in the Arctic as they approached Canadian airspace on the eve of a visit from Canada’s prime minister to observe an Arctic military exercise, a spokesman for the prime minister said Wednesday. Dimitri Soudas, Stephen ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
AFP/Getty Images

It seems there was some excitement in the far north yesterday:

It seems there was some excitement in the far north yesterday:

Fighter jets were scrambled to intercept two Russian bombers in the Arctic as they approached Canadian airspace on the eve of a visit from Canada’s prime minister to observe an Arctic military exercise, a spokesman for the prime minister said Wednesday.

Dimitri Soudas, Stephen Harper‘s director of communications, said two Canadian CF-18 jets shadowed a pair of Russian Tu-95 Bear jets in international airspace Tuesday.

This isn’t the first time this has happened either. Canada is in the process of constructing two military bases in the region in response to recent aggressive moves by Russia. 

But don’t panic quite yet. In the current issue of Foreign Policy, Lawson Brigham argues that, despite the increased competition for resources as polar ice melts, a military confrontation in the region is highly unlikely. 

 

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

Tag: Russia

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