Canadians intercept Russian bomber ahead of Obama’s visit
Published: 28 February, 2009, 00:52
TAGS: Military, Arctic, Russia
Canada's Defense Minister has acknowledged that his country's fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a Russian bomber over the Arctic just prior to a visit from U.S. President Barack Obama.
“The Russian aircraft was approaching Canadian airspace and, as they have done on previous occasions, [Canadian pilots] sent very clear signals that were understood: that aircraft was to turn tail and head back to its own airspace. Which it did,” Defense Minister Peter MacKay said.
According to the Canadian minister, the long-range Russian Bear aircraft was picked up in international airspace on February 18. He said it was a strong coincidence that it happened on the eve of President Obama's visit to Ottawa on February 19.
The Russian embassy in Ottawa called it a routine flight that had nothing to do with Obama's visit.
Russia’s Interfax news agency quotes a source from the Russian Cabinet as saying that it is perplexed by MacKay’s statement.
“The Canadian defense minister's statements regarding flights of our long-range aircraft are absolutely beyond understanding,” the source said. “The statements from the Canadian National Defense Ministry can only cause our perplexity, and they cannot be described other than a farce,” the source said.
Col. Aleksandr Drobyshevsky, an acting spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, told Interfax that several Russian long-range bombers took off from the Engels airbase in the Saratov region and were on a planned air patrol mission on February 18.
“The flight was carried out in line with international flying regulations. A violation of aerial borders of other states is out of the question. The neighboring states were notified about the strategic bombers' flights beforehand,” Drobyshevsky said.
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One last thing. I don't want to make this something more than it is. I just don't like the disposition of Canada's current government.
The top brass of the Canadian military publicly stated that Russian Air Force officials notified NORAD of the bomber's flight before the aircraft left the base. It's also public knowledge that Russia had resumed these long range patrols. This is not the first time Canadian Forces had rendezvoused with a Russian bomber over the Arctic, in resent years. It's interesting that this incident was not disclosed by the government until days after it had occurred; U.S. president Obama had left by that point. The News broke just as our leadership was trying to force a controversial economic spending program through the parliament. Though our current Prime Minister (Stephen Harper) is from the Conservative Party of Canada, I would agree he is hardly a neocon. But perhaps he has learned something about using 'scare tactics' to achieve political ends from George W. Bush. I don't think it worked, however. In the end, our leaders looked more foolish then noble and statesmen like. It was quite embarrassing.