About 130 U.S. soldiers are returning to their bases after being deployed to a remote Alaska island amid a spike in Russian military activity off the western reaches of the U.S.

Eight Russian military planes and four navy vessels, including two submarines, have come close to Alaska in the past week.

The U.S. military has stationed around 130 soldiers and mobile rocket launchers on an uninhabited island in the Aleutian chain in western Alaska. This move follows increased activity by Russian and Chinese military forces near U.