|
Strategic bomber patrols not
"saber rattling" - Russian AF
RIA
Novosti
Wednesday Aug 22, 2007
Regular flights of Russian strategic bombers do not pose
a threat to other countries, and Russia always issues prior warnings
of their patrols, an Air Force spokesman said Wednesday.
The British Defense Ministry earlier reported an alleged incident
last Friday in which the Royal Air Force had to scramble its Typhoon
fighters to intercept a Russian Tu-95MS Bear-H strategic bomber,
which approached British air space during a flight over the North
Atlantic.
"Our pilots never violate foreign airspace, and their actions
have no aggression against other countries," Colonel Alexander
Drobyshevsky said.
He said Russian Tu-160 Blackjack and Tu-95MS strategic bombers
have been conducting routine flights during the last six weeks
over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Black Sea and toward
the North Pole as part of scheduled pilot training.
(Article continues below)
"We have made prior announcements of all flights,"
the spokesman said. "There is no saber rattling involved."
President Vladimir Putin announced on August 17 that Russia had
permanently resumed long-distance patrol flights of strategic
bombers, which were suspended in 1992 after the collapse of the
Soviet Union.
The president, speaking on the final day of large-scale military
exercises involving Russia, China, and four Central Asian countries
in the south Urals, said: "Air patrol areas will include
zones of commercial shipping and economic activity. As of today,
combat patrolling will be on a permanent basis. It has a strategic
character."
The announcement gained substantial coverage in the British and
other Western media, which called the Kremlin's move a return
to the Cold War era.
|
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
|
|
