A rough map released by a pro-Kremlin blogger on Sunday purported to show how a formation of Russian and Chinese nuclear-capable bombers circled the U.S. coast off Alaska last week.

The Rybar military channel on Telegram suggested the two Russian Tu-95MS and two Chinese H-6K strategic bombers took off together from Anadyr airfield in Russia’s eastern Chukotka region, which would mark the first time assets from both air forces have shared a base of operations.

U.S. and Canadian fighter aircraft under the direction of the North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepted the air group late on July 24 inside the Alaska air defense zone. The activity was “not seen as a threat,” NORAD said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the air patrol—the first time Chinese warplanes had approached Alaska—came within 200 miles of the U.S. coast, presumably in the Bering Sea. He said the joint operation was “not a surprise.”

After yet another sign of military cooperation between Beijing and Moscow, Russia’s state television was bullish about the pointed maneuvers, and Rybar, the military blogger, called for the patrols to be regularized.

Russia’s Defense Ministry later released footage of what it said was a five-hour patrol in the Chukchi and Bering seas in the North Pacific, escorted by Russian Su-30SM and Su-35S jets.

Rybar’s post, however, suggested the activity took place in two parts, with NORAD aircraft—U.S. Air Force F-16s and F-35s and Canadian CF-18s—scrambled to intercept the air group north of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.

The mixed-use Anadyr military airfield has long been a staging ground for long-range aviation units including the Tu-95MS. The blogger’s map indicates Russia’s cruise missile bombers were flown there before the mission, likely from Ukrainka air base in the Amur region bordering China.

And while there was little information about the Chinese long-ranger bombers involved in the now annual air drill, the planes could have been dispatched from the mixed-use Anqing air base, where is located an H-6K aircraft division, under the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command.

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In a more detailed release on Monday—the first since NORAD’s initial announcement—the Alaskan Command said the air intercept mission was carried out by aircraft from Eielson Air Force Base and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Air defense identification zones, or ADIZ, are not considered sovereign airspace, but the self-declared areas—found extensively in Asia—are used to identify and control approaching foreign aircraft.

The Tu-95 and H-6 bombers were escorted “over international waters until they exited the ADIZ,” the statement said.

“The vastness of Alaska brings unique challenges when it comes to ensuring the United States and Canada are defended,” Maj. Brent Rist of the 18th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Eielson was quoted as saying.

“To put things into perspective, it’s similar to fighter jets taking off from Denver to protect D.C. and then fly back. This distance exposes all assets to complex scenarios and risk, especially with weather in Alaska,” Rist said in the Alaskan Command release.

The command said the intercept was supported by a number of other assets including airborne early warning and refueling aircraft.

The Russian and Chinese defense ministries could not be reached for comment after hours. Last week, both governments said the joint training did not target any third party.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Nearly five years after Cassandra Boskofsky went missing, Anchorage police say more evidence is needed despite strong belief from the Alaska Native woman’s family and supporters that pictures taken off convicted murderer Brian Smith’s cell phone prove Smith also murdered Boskofsky.

Anchorage Police Detective Capt. Bianca Cross confirmed to Alaska’s News Source Monday that earlier this month, APD Detective Brendan Lee showed Cassandra’s cousin Marcella Boskofsky-Grounds and aunt Terri Boskofsky graphic photos from the cell phone of Smith, who was found guilty of murdering two Alaska Native women, Kathleen Henry, 30, and Veronica Abouchuk, 52, in February.

“I do believe strongly that she is another victim of Brian Steven Smith,” Boskofsky-Grounds said. “He (Detective Lee) asked me if I could look at another photograph that was actually in Brian Steven Smith’s phone … I looked through FaceTime and I could see that through FaceTime that yes, it was Cassandra.

“I just instantly started crying.”

According to an affidavit, Boskofsky-Grounds said the last time she saw her cousin was on Aug. 3, 2019.

Twenty-three days later, she filed a missing persons report.

The family brought their concerns public Friday at a protest. They continue to wonder why it was not until this month when they were first informed about photos found on Smith’s phone — photos that were possibly of Cassandra.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous People advocate Antonia Commack joined the Boskofsky family at the protest.

Commack said as she and former Anchorage police officer Michael Livingston closely followed the Smith case, they noticed court documents in February started to mention a third unidentified woman, and immediately started asking questions.

Eventually, Commack and Livingston say their questions led to police releasing a sketch and three pictures of the woman retrieved from Smith’s phone. They also say they urged police to contact the Boskofsky family so they could also view the photos.

“It’s disheartening that it took five years for them to do that and we identified her within an hour,” Commack said. “The fact that their family had to wait that long to have confirmation that their loved one is dead, is just it’s — I don’t even, I have a hard time finding the words because it makes me so angry.”

However, APD’s Cross said without hard evidence, there is no confirmation.

While the Boskofsky family may strongly feel the photos show Cassandra, Cross said that is not enough proof to determine if Cassandra is dead, which the police captain said is why photos were not immediately shown to the Boskofsky family.

On July 19, calling it a matter of closure, Boskofsky-Grounds said she filed a presumptive death petition in Anchorage Superior Court.

Boskofsky-Grounds said she believes the officially unidentified woman from the photos is her cousin Cassandra.

In her email to Alaska’s News Source on Monday, Cross said nothing can be officially signed off on without forensic evidence.

“We were cognizant we would not be able to confirm the identity regardless of what the family believed, and that idea (of not being in a position to confirm) could be just as detrimental. Other names were suggested by various law enforcement, but again, no certainty,” Cross stated. “We believed it was better for the family to hear what we knew — as opposed to what people believed and put out in the public — without context or more information.”

A $500 reward remains for any information that leads to the discovery of Cassandra. Information can be reported anonymously at alaskathemissing@gmail.com .

Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.

Updated: 30 minutes ago Published: 37 minutes ago

The Alaska Supreme Court is set to hear an appeal next month, challenging an initiative that seeks to repeal ranked choice voting and open primaries.

Oral arguments were scheduled Friday on an expedited basis for Aug. 22 — two days after the primary election. The plaintiffs are requesting that the court issue a decision on whether the initiative is valid by Sept. 3, which is the Alaska Division of Elections’ target date to print ballots for the Nov. 5 general election.

The division in March certified that a group of Alaskans had successfully gathered enough signatures to put an initiative on the general election ballot to repeal Alaska’s new voting system — which was itself narrowly approved by voters through a 2020 ballot measure.

Three Alaska voters filed a lawsuit in April, challenging how the signatures were gathered, and how the Alaska Division of Elections allowed errors in petition booklets to be fixed. The plaintiffs asserted the repeal supporters had likely not collected enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Christina Rankin threw out part of the lawsuit in June that challenged the petition booklet correction process. In July, Rankin disqualified dozens of booklets, after some had been left unattended, and ordered the division to determine if the repeal measure still qualified for the ballot.

After a short review, the Division of Elections said the initiative “remains qualified” for the general election ballot. Rankin’s final judgment in favor of the defendants was issued July 24.

Scott Kendall, an attorney and one of the authors behind the 2020 ballot measure that implemented ranked choice voting, is representing the three plaintiffs. According to court documents, the plaintiffs assert that supporters of repealing Alaska’s new voting system “had not submitted a sufficient number of qualified signatures to the Division before two key statutory deadlines.”

The plaintiffs are appealing on two grounds. They say the Division of Elections used an unlawful process to allow the initiative supporters to fix errors in dozens of petition booklets, and that the the corrected booklets were impermissibly submitted after a statutory deadline.

Kendall said the appeal is intended to ask a novel question for the Alaska Supreme Court: “Do filing deadlines strictly apply to ballot measures as they do to candidate filings?”

If the court sides with the plaintiffs, Kendall said the ranked choice repeal measure would likely not have enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Former Alaska Attorney General Kevin Clarkson, who is appearing on behalf of the ranked choice repeal backers, said he felt confident Rankin’s decision was correct. He said the plaintiffs are not appealing “the part of the case they lost at trial.”

“On the issue they are appealing, the statutes expressly permit the correction of petition booklet certifications before the signatures are counted,” Clarkson said.

Alaska’s voting system, first used in 2022, includes open nonpartisan primary elections. The top four vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election. The general election is determined by ranked-choice voting, which will again be used this November.

Oral arguments are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. on Aug. 22. They will be livestreamed online on KTOO.