Russia flexes muscles,resumes Cold War-era bomber patrols

Only a few days after Moscow said its strategic bombers had begun exercises over the North Pole, Russia has restarted a Cold War-era practice....

Only a few days after Moscow said its strategic bombers had begun exercises over the North Pole, Russia has restarted a Cold War-era practice of sending long-range bomber aircraft on patrol on permanent basis.

President Vladimir Putin declared yesterday at the end of the regional Shanghai group’s anti-terror wargames, in Chelyabinsk region, that Russia had resumed flights of its long-range strategic bombers on a regular basis.

“Fourteen strategic missile carriers, support planes and tanker planes took off from seven Russian airfields in various parts of the country at 00:00 Moscow time on August 17. Combat alert has begun,” Putin announced.

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He said the move to resume the flights permanently after a gap of 15 years, was in response to unprecedented security threats to Russia by other military powers.

“Since 1992, the Russian Federation unilaterally stopped flights of its strategic aviation in remote combat areas. Unfortunately, our example was not followed by all of the countries,” Putin said, stressing flights by other countries’ strategic planes continued, creating certain problems for “ensuring Russia’s security.”

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack played down the significance of Russia’s move. “We certainly are not in the kind of posture we were with what used to be the Soviet Union,” McCormach said in media reports.

“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 said.