I think a couple of those Islands were occupied by Japan during WW2 for a period of time, U.S. bought some that were claimed by Russia long ago for pennies per acre, don't know if we got them all of if Russia still has one or two but those planes were near Canada's & our airspace & both sent a flying greeting.
I was stationed aboard a nuke attack submarine during the 1990's and we would harass the Russians all the time. They were no match for the American subs. Believe me, we do to them more than what they do to us!