Tu-95MS strategic bombers fly over the Red Square during a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade in Moscow, Russia, May 7, 2019. (Xinhua/Bai Xueqi)

MOSCOW, May 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. fighters have escorted four Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers while the latter were performing regular flights in the airspace over the neutral waters of the Arctic and the Pacific, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

At certain stages of the route, the Russian aircraft were escorted by F-22 fighter jets of the U.S. Air Force, it said in a statement.

The duration of the flight over the Chukchi, Bering and Okhotsk seas, as well as along the northern coast of the Aleutian Islands and the western coast of Alaska, exceeded 12 hours, it said.

Russian long-range military aircraft regularly fly over the neutral waters of the Arctic, the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, the ministry said.

All flights are carried out in strict accordance with the international rules for the use of airspace, without violating the borders of other states, it added.