Report: Russia could put bombers close to U.S.

[unhappycamper]

In this photo released by the U.S. Navy, one of two Russian Tupolev 95 Bear long rang bomber aircraft is seen near the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz on Feb. 9, 2008, south of Japan. The Interfax news agency reported March 14 that a Russian Air Force chief says Russian strategic bombers may be based in Cuba. Russia resumed long-range bomber patrols in 2007 after a 15-year hiatus.


Report: Russia could put bombers close to U.S.
By David Nowak - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Mar 14, 2009 15:17:38 EDT

MOSCOW — A Russian Air Force chief said Saturday that the country could base some strategic bombers in Cuba or on an island offered by Venezuela, the Interfax news agency reported, but a Kremlin official quickly said the military had been speaking only hypothetically.

The U.S. and Russia have been trying to reset their relationship, severely strained over U.S. plans to position missile defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic and by Russia’s invasion of U.S. ally Georgia last year.

Russia has nothing to gain strategically from basing long-range craft within relatively short range of U.S. shores, independent military analyst Alexander Golts said, calling the military statement a retaliatory gesture aimed at hitting back after U.S. ships patrolled Black Sea waters near Georgia.

The chief of staff of Russia’s long range aviation, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, was quoted by Interfax as saying Saturday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had offered “a whole island with an airdrome, which we can use as a temporary base for strategic bombers.”

“If there is a corresponding political decision, then the use of the island ... by the Russian Air Force is possible,” Zhikharev was quoted as saying.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_russia_bombers_cuba_031409/%2e