OTTAWA–Four Canadian and U.S. fighter jets were scrambled to meet a pair of Russian bomber planes found flying on the edge of Canada's Arctic airspace hours before President Barack Obama arrived in Ottawa for his first foreign visit, Canada's defence minister said.

Peter MacKay wouldn't say whether he thought the Feb. 18 flight of two TU-95 Bears, long-range Russian bombers, was designed to create mischief for a Canadian security system that was already stressed by the presidential visit. But he said the response of Canadian pilots operating under the command of NORAD sent a clear message to Moscow.

"I'm not going to stand here and accuse the Russians of deliberately doing this during the presidential visit, but it was a strong coincidence which we met with the presence ... of F-18 fighter planes and world-class pilots that know their business and send a strong signal that they should back off and stay out of our airspace," he told reporters.

MacKay initially said there was a single Russian bomber but a NORAD spokesman and the minister's officer later said there were two.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in Saskatoon that the incident was a real cause for concern that will not intimidate Canada.

"This government has responded every time the Russians have done that. We will continue to respond. We will defend our airspace."

The Russian planes broke no international laws when they encroached on the 200-mile Canadian perimeter, 190 kilometres northeast of Tuktoyaktuk, but experts say it was a clear attempt to test defence systems in the disputed Arctic territories.

"Russia has become more active than in the past," said Ray Henault, formerly Canada's chief of defence staff.

Henault, who served as chairman of NATO's military council until last year, said the bomber flights are a "legitimate activity" that have nonetheless complicated relations with other Arctic nations in recent years.

"To call it a threat is probably a little bit stronger than I would call it."

If the Arctic equation helps answer why Russia would be increasing its activity in the high North, the question of why Canada chose today to draw attention to a fairly common occurrence is less clear.

A senior government official said highlighting the mid-air meeting is a good way to show the worth and relevance of NORAD while its commander, U.S. Gen. Victor Renuart, visits Ottawa. It's also a good way to "get some ink" for Canada's contribution to continental security, the official said.

But it's also a diplomatic rebuff to Russian officials who have complained in the last week of nations that are "militarizing" the Arctic to bolster their claims to valuable energy and mineral resources locked beneath the thawing tundra and the seabed.

"We know that the waters are opening up, we know that other countries have expressed interest in the Arctic and that we intend to have a very real and current activity and presence in the Arctic," MacKay said yesterday.

MacKay has asked Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Russia's ambassador to Canada to give Ottawa a "head's up" when such flights are planned.

"To date, we have not received this type of notice," he said.

Gen. Renuart, has also "reached out" to Moscow, requesting that they file formal international notice of the flights to no avail, said NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek.

In Moscow, an unnamed government official called MacKay's statement a "farce" and said the Russian government was reacting to Canada's objections with "astonishment," news agency RIA-Novosti reported.

The agency also quoted Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky, a defence ministry spokesman, saying that neighbouring states had been previously notified of the bombers' flight.

"They would say that," countered Rob Huebert, associate director of the University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies.

The break-up of the Soviet Union in 1989 crippled Russia's economy and brought such long-range flights, a staple of the Cold War, to an end. That all changed in recent years as Russian overflights have resumed.

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"They're doing them in the hundreds. It's not just the Arctic. They're overflying into the Pacific, they overflew an American carrier battle group. Everyone's saying, `What the hell's going on here?'" Huebert said.

NORAD's Kucharek said Canadian and U.S. fighter jets have been scrambled more than 20 times since early 2007 to perform visual identification of Russian bombers and to direct them away from North American airspace. Moscow began flying its old Cold War routes in late 2006, he said, but have always remained in international airspace.

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