Four Russian military aircraft were detected in Alaskan airspace, days after the U.S. government pushed back against Moscow’s claim on Alaska.
The four military jets were tracked operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) but remained in international airspace and didn’t enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement late Tuesday.
“This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat,” NORAD said.
Alaska was once part of Russia. In 1867 it was sold to the U.S. for $7.2 million after U.S. President Andrew Johnson signed the Alaska Treaty. It was formally transferred by Russia to the U.S. on October 18, 1867, and it gained the status of a state on January 3, 1959.
The Kremlin in January issued a new decree regarding historic Russian real estate holdings abroad, directing and funding the presidential administration and the foreign ministry in “searching for real estate in the Russian Federation, the former Russian Empire, the former USSR,” then referring to the “proper registration of rights…and legal protection of this property,” Newsweek previously reported .