Two NATO F-15's shadowed a pair of Russian Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers that were conducting a routine patrol flight over the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday.

The Russian Defense Ministry made the announcement today, according to a report from RIA Novosti.

The ministry said that the two four-engine Tupolev's, (which NATO codenamed "bears"), had spent over 15 hours in flight and were shadowed by two 'regualr' NATO F-15 Eagle fighters.

A similar patrol mission on September 29 was shadowed by an F-22 Raptor that uses stealth technology, reportedly the first time the world's only fifth-generation fighter aircraft was sent along to keep an eye on the Russians.

 

Russian patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans -- that were a common occurrence during the "Cold War"-- have resumed following an order from then-president Vladimir Putin, in 2007. The report notes that the patrols are "usually shadowed by less sophisticated NATO aircraft, than the fifth-generation 'Raptors' used in the September incident. It has been suggested that the flights resumed in response to the policies of former US president George W. Bush, who Putin once equated to a "madman running around with a blade in his hand".

All flights by Russian aircraft are performed in strict compliance with international law on the use of airspace over neutral waters, without intruding in the airspace of other states, the ministry said.