Guys,
Please don't believe everything you read in the news. The Russians announce all of their out of area long range operations to the west. In similar fashion they also announce a window on ballistic missile launches.
These announcements are confidence building measures so that an accident does not happen. The Russians announce to the west through diplomatic channels and the press that an exercise will take place. Within in that announced time frame they conduct their exercise / ballistic missile launch etc.
What you see in the media is simply a commander spinning a story and a journalist tweaks it further.
In reality eight USAF F-15s from Alaska intercepted the four Tu-95MS (BEAR Hs)initially. As the bombers flew on off Canada the Canadian took over with their CF-18s. On the 11th the Russians did a similar long-range flight against Japan.
This is a classic case of don't believe everything you read in the media!
Yep and the F-22 will be stationed in Alaska this year. The russians are all bravado zero substance and their bombers are ancient. More lies of the drunk slavs.