The nuclear-capable jets have flown over the Pacific Ocean, the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea in an intense military drill.
The operation prompted a nervous Japan and South Korea to scramble jets to escort them, Russia announced today.
Russia‘s Defence Ministry said the Tupolev-95MS bombers, code named ‘Bears’ by NATO, flew over neutral waters and were accompanied by Russian Sukhoi-35S fighter jets and early warning and control aircraft.
The Kremlin gave no details about the overall number of aircraft that had taken part in what it called a pre-arranged flight. They also failed to explain when or why the mission took place.
They did boast the TU-95MS bombers were refuelled in mid-air during the mission, however.
Russia, which shares a border with North Korea, has repeatedly voiced concerns about rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula caused by Pyongyang’s nuclear missile programme They have also complained about Japan’s plans to deploy a US anti-missile system on its soil.
This drill, however, will do nothing to calm the situation – and comes after repeated condemnation from Vladimir Putin’s Western rivals of such exercises.
Earlier this month NATO jets were scrambled to intercept Russian jets flying over Europe, buzzing Estonian territory.
However, this incident ended in embarrassment for NATO when they admitted they had accidentally violated Finnish airspace during their response.
And in May, Russian bombers buzzed the US border in an apparent show of force from Mr Putin to US president Donald Trump.
Like this most recent incident, May’s exercise also involved Tupolev-95MS bombers. They approached the US state of Alaska before being escorted away by two US Air Force F-22 stealth fighter jets.