What are the correct procedures for military aircraft interception over international waters?
The F-14 and its AIM-54 Phoenix missile was originally built for a particularly unfriendly intercept of Russian bombers from 100nm away in war time.  

In peacetime, the TU-95 Bear bombers still needed to be intercepted.  That practice, at least in the north Atlantic, was usually for one of a pair of F-14s to fly directly toward the intercept point and well above it, while the other was several miles in trail and on the side that would be to the rear of the bomber(s) after intercept.  The first would overfly and make a descending turn to end up about a mile in trail, holding position there while the second did the same thing.  This ensured that (depending on ROE) weapons could always be directed at the bomber by one or the other F-14's throughout the approach.

Sometimes the F-14s were tasked with (really, permitted to) close with the Bear to "gather intelligence".  This resulted in lots of great pictures. You'll note that usually the F-14s in those didn't carry Sparrow or Phoenix missiles so they'd constitute less of a threat while closing (there were exceptions, though).  The Bear is about the size of a B-52, and depending on the day's plan you could come within a couple (Bear) wingspans of one. This in theory was risky (they had a rear gunner who's arc of fire you were to avoid) and took it out of your missile envelope, but you did have a gun...



As the Bear got closer to the carrier, more F-14s would arrive and things would get a little spread out for deconfliction.



But everything was smooth, slow, and initially done from a significant distance. Nothing at all like the Top Gun intercept, which would have permanently grounded all four crew members.