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Russian military jets flew within 100 kilometres of Canadian mainland

STEVEN CHASE
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Sep. 19 2014, 4:30 PM EDT
Last updated Friday, Sep. 19 2014, 4:56 PM EDT

A patrol of Russian bombers veered to within 50 to 100 kilometres of Canada’s northern landmass the day after Ukraine’s President received a hero’s welcome in Ottawa for his struggle to defend his country from Moscow’s aggression.

This pair of Tupolev bombers, conducting what Moscow has long referred to as training flights, are among those that have flown the closest to Canada’s mainland, a government source says.
Canada scrambled CF-18s to intercept the bombers at about 4:30 a.m. ET on September 18, the source says.

The incident follows closely on the heels of an official Canadian visit by Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko, who’s been fighting Russian-backed rebels for months and addressed Canada’s Parliament on Sept. 17.

During his stop in Ottawa, Mr. Poroshenko thanked Canada for the non-lethal military aid, such as protective vests, received $200-million loans from Ottawa and served notice he would like Canada’s help in obtaining satellite imagery of the Russian-Ukrainian border.

When Canada detected the bombers it dispatched CF-18s from Inuvik, NWT to meet the Russian aircraft, a government source says. The Canadian fighters raced to meet the bombers and once the Russian planes were intercepted and identified, they turned away from Canada’s mainland.

The Tupolev bombers did not enter Canadian airspace. They did however enter Canada’s Air Defence Identification Zone in the Arctic, a band of airspace north of the country’s main landmass.

The Putin government has previously accused Ottawa of overreacting to Moscow’s training flights and making hay out of the “Russian bear in the air” for political reasons.

The Canadian government source said, however, that flight paths of Russian aircraft that come close to Canada’s airspace have increased in 2014 over two previous years.

Ottawa is taking a closer interest in Russian activity in the Arctic as a result of Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea earlier this year.

As recently as March, however, Mr. Harper publicly played down any risk that conflict between the West and Russia over Ukraine could spill over into the Arctic.

It’s not the only time Russian military aircraft have played cat and mouse with Canada in recent weeks.

On September 7, three Russian planes buzzed the Canadian frigate HMCS Toronto while it was on a training exercise with Ukrainians and Americans in the Black Sea. The low-level flyovers signaled Russia was watching as tensions remain high between Moscow and Kiev.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/russian-military-jets-flew-within-100-kilometres-of-canadian-mainland-source-says/article20706528/