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ROAR: Russia insists on joint agenda with NATO
Published: 19 October, 2010, 18:32
Edited: 21 October, 2010, 06:10
As Russia and NATO prepare for the next summit, Moscow must not be simply informed of decisions taken by the alliance’s member states, politicians and analysts stress.
Russian bombers never once entered UK national airspace. The airspace the Russian bombers flew through was international airspace near the UK. I am sure the Russians will stop flying their aircraft in INTERNATIONAL AIRSPACE when NATO does. There was no violations of any ones airspace at all, all flights were conducted in international airspace and were perfectly legal. The message brought by those Russian bomber crews is that hello we are back because even though we stopped training flights for over a decade because we couldn't afford the fuel you guys just kept on with your flights and patrols so now we have the money we are going to go back to what we used to do because that seems to be what you are doing. If you want Russia to stop I am sure they would be happy to... as soon as NATO takes down all those radar bases on its borders and all those electronic listening posts in the baltic states and stops flights by its strategic bombers. BTW the Russians would be happy to bomb the crap out of Afghan poppy fields, it is NATO that is protecting those fields and refusing to allow Russia to interfere.
The reason why two TU160 Blackjack bombers never violated the UK airspace is that the RAF Tornado jets have been scrambled to intercept them and shadowed to escort them until they left. "White swans" came right up to the edge of international airspace near Stornoway, the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. They have been picked up by radar not for their upcoming 'photo opportunity' to show British citizens a bit of Russian revamped might. However, the pictures taken by the RAF crew were quite astonishing. GarryB, I can give you another, much less friendly interpretation behind the appearance of 'unwelcomed' Russian warplanes - "they wanted to do it for real, they know exactly how we react, they test our time to respond". These statements didn't make headlines, fortunately, but they were made by British military experts. I can understand that Russia is counterbalancing or responding to NATO expansion close to its borders. The incidents like in March have nothing to do with Russia patrolling its borders in airspace of Scotland. If you follow the latest developments in Russia-NATO and Russia-Britain relations, you may have noticed the lack of trust between participants. The Baltic states have their own concerns about Russia's military might, Britain has its own. The war on drugs in Afghanistan and eradication of international terrorism are the main areas where agreements have been reached already and we welcome them. Do we need return of the Cold War era displays of tension and mistrust by saying "Hello" from deadly supersonic bombers?
When will Russian decisions-makers realize that there is no way to discuss with that military alliance which should have been eliminated when the Warsaw pact ended. How many more dirty tricks have to be played on Russia before Mr Medvedev and Lavrov understand. You can only deal with those peoples when being firm and having well set-up positions. It is impossible to compromise with someone who has not an once of sincerity in his body like Obama, Rasmussen, Sarkozy, Brown, Merkel etc. Russia should require the removal of all military personal and installations from Europe and her southern borders before any negotiation take place. Since you have been manipulated and fooled for such a long time, you really need a tough leader to do it. Sorry Future Russian Generations...JCM
I agree with you, Meslin! Hope Putin will be president as soon as possible
@Svetlana
The Blackjack crew are not sightseeing. They are practising a mission. A mission I am sure they take very seriously.
The modern blackjack would be armed with 12 cruise missiles each with a flight range of 5,000km so there is no reason for these aircraft to get anywhere near UK airspace if they don't want to.
The reality is that even a short mission to the UK during WWII would result in most of the UK glowing from the impacts of multiple ICBM and SLBM warheads that will have detonated 2-3 hours before any Blackjack got to launch range. The Blackjack will likely fire cruise missiles to ensure that all major British cities are destroyed and are very unlikely to see any RAF activity. The US B-52s will likely have similar experiences over Russia.
The Blackjack crews perform these missions because western strategic bombers never stopped doing the same to Russia even now 2 decades after the end of the cold war and more than a decade after Russia stopped because of the cost.
Blackjack crews testing defences... how many hundreds of western aircrews lost their lives during the cold war because they were flying deep into Soviet territory trying to provoke a response. They certainly got one when they persisted.
The fact is that the west didn't stop when the Russians stopped so now they can afford the practise they are doing it again.
Why would anyone expect otherwise?
According to the UK Ministry of Defence, since 2009 the Russian bombers intercepted the UK airspace on 20 different occasions. Last March the warplane TU 160 "Vasily Reshetnikov" was involved in a 4 hour stand-off with RAF over territory of Scotland. As beautiful as that type of bomber can be ( nicknamed "white swan"), the message brought by the Russian pilots wasn't clear for many British citizens. Russia is showing off its might and reminding us "we are here" was widely accepted with a pinch of irritation. The latest alleged incident over the Baltic Sea may be interpreted as less amusing, or intrusive at best, considering Latvia's participation in the NATO joint military exercise. Perhaps Russia, if serious, should send all right signals for the sake of future NATO-Russia security cooperation in Afghanistan by diverting its military strength to the airspace above opium poppies fields instead?