|
Russian bombers not carrying
nuclear weapons, air force says
AFP
Tuesday Aug 28, 2007
Russia said Monday that strategic bomber planes which were ordered
this month to resume the Soviet-era practice of long-range patrols
are not carrying nuclear weapons, ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
"We are not flying with nuclear weapons during our patrols.
They are not aboard. There are only training weapons," the
head of strategic aviation, General Pavel Androsov, was quoted
as saying.
He said the main aim of the flights was to improve training for
pilots, which in recent years "was virtually stopped".
President Vladimir Putin announced the resumption of long-range
flights in international air space while he attended military
exercises on August 17.
Such flights were standard during the Cold War standoff with
the United States and its western European allies, but were abandoned
in 1992 amid financial difficulties that followed the Soviet collapse.
(Article continues below)
The airplanes involved in the patrols are the Tu-160, Tu-95MS,
Il-78, and MiG-35, Androsov said.
Russian bombers had been making increasingly frequent flights
near US territory in the lead-up to Putin's announcement, while
Britain and Norway have recently scrambled jets to intercept Russian
planes near their airspace.
Androsov played down fears of renewed tension, saying "our
contacts in the air are friendly".
|
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
|
|
