To wit,
> F-22 Raptors from the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, intercepted a group of Russian aircraft in international airspace near Alaska Monday night.
> In a series of tweets early Tuesday morning, NORAD said the Raptors intercepted a pair of Russian Tu-95 “Bear” bombers escorted by Su-35 fighters. NORAD said it also identified a Russian A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft supporting the other Russian planes that “loitered” in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone and came within 30 nautical miles of Alaska’s shore.
> NORAD said that all Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and at no time entered U.S. or Canadian airspace.
Another example, from 2015: https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/09/politics/russian-bombers-u-s-...
> The U.S. military performed two intercepts of Russians aircraft, though they never entered U.S. airspace, according to a U.S. military official.
> In Alaska, F-22s took off to identify and track two TU-95 Bear bombers near the Southern coast. The two bombers were followed until they turned around.
> [...]
> Similarly off the coast of California, F-15s tracked two other TU-95s that had been detected near the coast of San Francisco. The incident in California was a rarity, because Russian forces don’t generally travel that far South. However, this was reminiscent of a similar flight Russia performed off the West coast on July 4 three years prior.
If anything, their frequency is less than yearly, at least off the U.S. coast, especially before 2015 (and within the range of internet memory). They seem far more common (and aggressive) in Europe, which I expected. And I can't find one example where the Russian aircraft breached U.S. territorial airspace. Sincere question: can you provide examples?
EDIT: Here's a 2008 story addressing Sarah Palin's claims about "incursions": https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/after-palins-inter...
> The air-defense identification zone, almost completely over water, extends 12 miles past the perimeter of the United States. Most nations have similar areas.
> However, no Russian military planes have been flying into that zone, said Maj. Allen Herritage, a spokesman for the Alaska region of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, at Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage.
> “To be very clear, there has not been any incursion in U.S. airspace in recent years,” Herritage said.
> What Palin might have been referring to was a buffer zone of airspace that extends beyond the 12-mile strip. Although not recognized internationally as the United States’ to protect, the military watches it.
> That zone is where there has been increased Russian bomber exercises, about 20 in the past two years. When Russian bombers enter that expanded area, sometimes called the outer air-defense identification zone by the military, U.S. or Canadian fighter jets are dispatched to check them, Herritage said.
1) "The United States flew nuclear armed bombers to the borders of the USSR 24 hours a day."
That is true. One of the linked-to examples is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Giant_Lance "These bombers were to patrol the Northern polar ice caps to survey the frozen terrain, whilst armed with nuclear weaponry.[4][6][2] The patrols consisted of eighteen-hour long vigils, which were executed with the intention of appearing as suspicious movements from the US."
2) Do Russian planes military fly close to the US on a more than yearly occurrence?
Yes. That is without a doubt, as you have show.
3) Do US planes do the same?
Yes. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2014/09... mentions "China denied any reckless flying and said it would continue responding to U.S. surveillance flights off its coast, which Beijing believes are a threat to its security." and famously https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan_Island_incident
For Russia, https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-says-fighter-intercepted-u-s-... "Russia says a fighter jet intercepted two U.S. military surveillance planes in the Black Sea" and of course there are currently a lot of NATO surveillance flights watching the Russian border now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_EP-3#Other_incidents lists two close passes of a US EP-3 by a Russian Su-27, and one by a Venezuelan Su-30.
4) Are any of these to preserve "normative freedom of movement rights"?
No.
5) Do any of them "usually breach airspace generally considered sovereign"?
No.
