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| TU-95.(AFP Photo / Japanese Defense Ministry) |
Russia plans to expand its air patrol missions of
long-range aircrafts to cover the Gulf of Mexico, the country’s defense
minister, Sergey Shoigu, says. He added that military training will
include flights along the Russian border and the Arctic Ocean.
“In the current situation we have to maintain military
presence in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific, as well as
the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico,” Shoigu said on
Wednesday.
As part of the military training, long-range aircrafts will also
fly along the Russian border and over the Arctic Ocean, the
defense minister said.
This kind of expansion relies on the serviceability of aircrafts,
Shoigu noted. “I approved a plan to improve the state of
long-range aircrafts, including repair and serviceability.”
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| Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu at an unveiling ceremony for a memorial to long-range pilots in Devichye Polye Park in Moscow.(RIA Novosti / Valeriy Melnikov) |
The news follows an announcement at the end of October that
Russia will be completing a network of radar stations in the
Arctic by next year.
“The plan involves the building of 13 airfields, one land
test range for the Air Forces, 10 radar sites and direction
centers,” said Lt. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the
National Defense Control Center.
Shoigu added during the announcement that Russia will continue
upgrading its foreign military bases as well.
Russia’s plans come as NATO has stepped up its activities near
the Russian border, including in the Black Sea and Baltic waters.
NATO has conducted five military exercises near the Russian
border over the past six months, according to the head of the
ministry’s Department of International Cooperation, Sergey
Koshelev.
The latest example is NATO’s so-called Trident Juncture exercise
in Estonia, which started on November 9 and will run until
November 17.
On top of the increased military activity, NATO asked the
Pentagon a week ago to send more troops to Eastern Europe to
counter the perceived Russian threat.
There are currently 750 US soldiers in Poland and the Baltic
states, which the organization believes is not enough.
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