MOSCOW (AFP) - A Russian bomber's overflight of a U.S. aircraft carrier last week was described as a "routine training" exercise on Wednesday by a Russian air force official quoted by Interfax.

Referring to the incident in which two Russian TU-95 Bear bombers overflew the USS Nimitz in the western Pacific near Japan on Saturday, the unnamed Russian official said "this was routine training for long-range air force crews... for combat with aircraft carriers and large naval formations."

"No international norms or neutral-water flight rules were violated," the official said.

On Tuesday the chief of the U.S. Navy Admiral Gary Roughead described the incident as "benign" and added that while Russia's military was trying to re-emerge as a global force: "I did not consider it to be provocative."

Russia last year revived on a permanent basis the long-range air patrols that were once a standard feature of the Cold War. Saturday's incident was the first time since the July 2004 overflight of the USS Kitty Hawk that a Russian Bear bomber has overflown a U.S. aircraft carrier.