The Russian “Bear Bombers” approached the aircraft carrier at an elevation of 500 feet Tuesday morning, according to Navy spokesman Commander William Marks.
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The Navy, though, called the Russian flyby “routine”, “not unprecedented”, and said scrambling four Navy jets was a “standard” response.
The USA had tried to contact the Russian planes but received no radio response, Stars and Stripes adds.
Press officials at the Russian Embassy in Seoul were not immediately available for comment Thursday.
It’s the latest in a string of incidents in which the Russian military has tested the boundaries of global airspace and waters.
In April, a Russian SU-24 fighter jet made 12 “close-range, low-altitude” passes near the USS Donald Cook while the ship was in worldwide waters in the western Black Sea near Romania, the Pentagon has said. Last month, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation officials said Russian fighters violated Turkish airspace several times.
While USA and Russian officials recently reached a memorandum of understanding to keep planes a safe distance apart over Syria, this incident suggests the document will not improve interactions between Russian and US assets throughout the world.
“We are advocates of any country being able to operate within worldwide norms”, Lt. Lauren Cole, a 7th Fleet spokeswoman, told the newspaper.
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Ronald Reagan and CVW-5 provide a combat-ready force that protects and defends the collective maritime interests of its allies and partners in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.
