Two Russian military bombers came close to breaching northern Canadian airspace on the eve of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit here last week, Defence Minister Peter MacKay revealed yesterday.
The Russians' behaviour drew a rebuke from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who said he was concerned about what he called encroachment into Canadian territory.
"This is a real concern to us," Mr. Harper said during a visit to Saskatoon. "I have expressed at various times the deep concern our government has with increasingly aggressive Russian actions around the globe and Russian intrusions into our airspace."
He vowed to "respond every time the Russians make any kind of intrusion on the sovereignty of Canada's Arctic."
The incident occurred Feb. 18, about 24 hours before Mr. Obama travelled to Canada for his first foreign visit.
Canadian CF-18 fighter jets were scrambled from Cold Lake, Alta., to intercept the long-range Tupolev TU-95s and signal them to back off, Mr. MacKay told reporters in Ottawa.
The Defence Minister noted that the Russian flight took place when Canada's security focus was on Ottawa, in preparation for the Obama visit.
"I am not going to stand here and accuse the Russians of having deliberately done this during the presidential visit, but it was a strong coincidence," Mr. MacKay said.
Canadian jets intercepted the Russian aircraft - commonly referred to as "Bears" - 190 kilometres northeast of Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. They had not entered Canadian airspace but did stray into a zone of international airspace under Canada's monitoring and control.
The Russian embassy did not return phone calls yesterday.
Mr. MacKay said Canadian pilots sent their Russian counterparts "a strong signal that they should back off and stay out of our airspace."
Mr. MacKay said this incident was one of an increasing number of exercises by Russian military planes near northern Canadian and U.S. airspace in recent years.
It's a resumption of the probing Cold-War-era training flights by Russian aircraft that were suspended when the Soviet Union fell. But in 2007, flush with money from high oil prices, the Russians resumed regular air exercises in the name of protecting the sovereignty of their Arctic.
Opposition parties accused the Tories of using tough talk on Russia to shift the political debate away from mounting deficits and economic woes.
"Everything the government does in these circumstances is an effort to change the channel," Liberal MP Bob Rae said.
U.S. General Gene Renuart, commander of North American Aerospace Defence Command, said Canadian and U.S. jets have visually identified more than 20 Russian aircraft in recent years that were conducting exercises near North American airspace.
Mr. MacKay said the Russians have turned a deaf ear to his request for advance notice of such near incursions.
"It's not a game at all ... I have personally asked both the Russian ambassador and my counterpart [in Russia]that we are given a heads up when this type of air traffic is to occur, and to date we have not received that kind of notice."
Gen. Renuart said, however, that Russia has not broken international rules or entered the internal airspace zones of Canada or the United States.
"The Russians have conducted themselves professionally; they have maintained compliance with the international rules of airspace sovereignty and have not entered the internal airspace of either of the countries."
Steven Chase