Russian and Chinese bombers were intercepted flying together for the first time near the US

North American Aerospace Defense Command said it sent fighter jets to intercept four Russian and Chinese bombers as they passed near Alaska on Wednesday. The military planes - two Russian Tu-95s and two Chinese H-6s - did not enter US airspace but passed through Alaska's Air Defense Identification Zone, NORAD said. An unnamed US defense official told CNN that it was the first time aircraft from the two countries had been intercepted together. Russian aircraft have been regularly intercepted around Alaska, but Chinese aircraft far less so. The Pentagon's Arctic strategy for 2024, released in June, noted "Increasing collaboration" between China and Russia in the region. Kathleen Hicks, the deputy secretary of defense, said at a media briefing on Monday that the US has seen "Growing cooperation between the PRC and Russia in the Arctic commercially, with the PRC being a major funder of Russian energy exploitation in the Arctic," Agence France-Presse reported. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov criticized the US Arctic strategy, saying Russia is trying to avoid the region "Becoming 'a territory of discord' that escalates tensions," according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS..