"Four Tu-95 strategic bombers have performed the designated missions," Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky said. "They were not accompanied by NATO fighters during the long flight."
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, NATO interceptors shadowed Russian bombers on similar missions last year and during the joint exercises with a Russian naval task force in the Atlantic in January-February.
Drobyshevsky said that all flights by Russian aircraft were performed in strict compliance with international laws on the use of air space over neutral waters, without violating the borders of other states.
Russia resumed strategic bomber patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans last August, following an order signed by President Vladimir Putin. The move is widely seen by the West as a sign of Russia's increasingly aggressive military stance.
Russian bombers have since carried out over 70 strategic patrol flights.
