BRRR The cold war is baCK
Aug 17, 2007 16:36:47 GMT 1
Post by Admin (Annette Andria) on Aug 17, 2007 16:36:47 GMT 1
Russia 'renewing bomber patrols'
Russia is resuming a Soviet-era practice of sending its bomber aircraft on long-range flights, President Vladimir Putin has said.
Mr Putin said the move to resume the flights after a 15 year suspension was in response to security threats posed by other military powers.
He said 14 bomber aircraft had taken off from seven airfields across Russia.
The move came a week after Russian bombers flew within a few hundred miles of the US Pacific island of Guam.
The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says President Putin is signalling yet again Russia's intention to be a visible military presence on the international stage.
It is part of what many analysts see as Russia's more assertive foreign policy, buoyed by higher oil and gas revenues.
"We have decided to restore flights by Russian strategic aviation on a permanent basis," Mr Putin told reporters at joint military exercises with China and four Central Asian states in Russia's Ural mountains.
"In 1992, Russia unilaterally ended flights by its strategic aircraft to distant military patrol areas. Unfortunately, our example was not followed by everyone," Mr Putin said, in an apparent reference to the US.
"Flights by other countries' strategic aircraft continue and this creates certain problems for ensuring the security of the Russian Federation," he said.
In Washington, a state department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said Russia's decision was "interesting".
"If Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again, that's their decision," he told reporters.
Long-distance flights
Russian media reported earlier on Friday that long-range bombers had been flying over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
A Russian air force spokesman said several pairs of bombers were in the air "accompanied by Nato planes," Itar-Tass news agency said.
Nato said it was aware of the flights but had no comment on whether the Russian bombers had been accompanied by Nato planes.
Itar-Tass quoted Russian air force spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky as saying: "At present, several pairs of Tu-160 and Tu-95MS aircraft are in the air over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which are accompanied by Nato planes."
In last week's incident near Guam, the Russian pilots "exchanged smiles" with US fighter pilots who scrambled to track them, a Russian general said.
The US military confirmed the presence of the Russian bombers near Guam, home to a large US base.
Last month two Tupolev 95 aircraft - dubbed "bears" according to their Nato code-name - strayed south from their normal patrol pattern off the Norwegian coast and headed towards Scotland. Two RAF Tornado fighters were sent up to meet them.
Russian bombers have also recently flown close to US airspace over the Arctic Ocean near Alaska.
Russia is resuming a Soviet-era practice of sending its bomber aircraft on long-range flights, President Vladimir Putin has said.
Mr Putin said the move to resume the flights after a 15 year suspension was in response to security threats posed by other military powers.
He said 14 bomber aircraft had taken off from seven airfields across Russia.
The move came a week after Russian bombers flew within a few hundred miles of the US Pacific island of Guam.
The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says President Putin is signalling yet again Russia's intention to be a visible military presence on the international stage.
It is part of what many analysts see as Russia's more assertive foreign policy, buoyed by higher oil and gas revenues.
"We have decided to restore flights by Russian strategic aviation on a permanent basis," Mr Putin told reporters at joint military exercises with China and four Central Asian states in Russia's Ural mountains.
"In 1992, Russia unilaterally ended flights by its strategic aircraft to distant military patrol areas. Unfortunately, our example was not followed by everyone," Mr Putin said, in an apparent reference to the US.
"Flights by other countries' strategic aircraft continue and this creates certain problems for ensuring the security of the Russian Federation," he said.
In Washington, a state department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said Russia's decision was "interesting".
"If Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again, that's their decision," he told reporters.
Long-distance flights
Russian media reported earlier on Friday that long-range bombers had been flying over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
A Russian air force spokesman said several pairs of bombers were in the air "accompanied by Nato planes," Itar-Tass news agency said.
Nato said it was aware of the flights but had no comment on whether the Russian bombers had been accompanied by Nato planes.
Itar-Tass quoted Russian air force spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky as saying: "At present, several pairs of Tu-160 and Tu-95MS aircraft are in the air over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which are accompanied by Nato planes."
In last week's incident near Guam, the Russian pilots "exchanged smiles" with US fighter pilots who scrambled to track them, a Russian general said.
The US military confirmed the presence of the Russian bombers near Guam, home to a large US base.
Last month two Tupolev 95 aircraft - dubbed "bears" according to their Nato code-name - strayed south from their normal patrol pattern off the Norwegian coast and headed towards Scotland. Two RAF Tornado fighters were sent up to meet them.
Russian bombers have also recently flown close to US airspace over the Arctic Ocean near Alaska.
