Russia says bomber flight to Venezuela proves global reach

Sep 11, 2008, 15:28 GMT

Moscow - The flight of two Russian nuclear-capable bombers to South America this week is proof that 'any region in the world' is within reach of the country's long-range bomber fleet, Russia's air force commander said on Thursday.

'We have tested ourselves, and our bombers are capable of making flights to any region in the world,' Colonel General Pavel Androsov told a briefing in Moscow on Thursday.

The TU-160 bombers, known as 'Blackjack' by their NATO codename, were not equipped with nuclear weapons when they landed in Venezuela on Wednesday for a four day stay ahead of joint naval exercise in the Caribbean.

Androsov said in the televised briefing the planes carried only dummy missiles.

But the show of force near US-patrolled waters looked to heighten security tension with the United States, already high after last month's war in Georgia and over US plans to site elements of a missile defense shield in eastern Europe.

Defence analysts in Moscow said it was the first time strategic bombers have landed in Latin America since the Cold War.

Russian officials downplayed the Tu-160's mission to Venezuela on Thursday.

'Usually we do not notify the American side of our flights in remote areas of the world,' Androsov said. 'But as per international laws, we applied for permission for our bombers to fly over the Atlantic.'

The general said both US and NATO aircraft flanked the Russian jets for portions of the flight over the Norwegian Sea and Iceland.

'NATO planes flew very near to our flight path, but there was no hooliganism as there has been in the past,' he said.

President Dmitry Medvedev said he ordered the flight of the Russian blackjacks, in response to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's invitation.

Chavez, who has spearheaded an alliance of non-aligned states against the United States, has sought closer ties with Russia, including by making several large weapons purchases in recent years.

Russia's foreign ministry was quick to stress the flights were not a sign of ambition to reestablish military bases in the Western hemisphere.

'Russia does not have military bases in Latin America,' ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said. 'The landing at the Venezuelan airbase was carried out in line with prior agreements between Russia and Venezuela.

While Moscow was at pains to stress the deployment was long planned, it seemed as much a tit-for-tat response to the presence of US warships in the Black Sea to deliver aid to Georgia.

Putin again criticized the 'build-up' US warships in the Black Sea under the 'pretext' of delivering aid to Georgia on Thursday.

He said the West was overreacting to the military exercises.

'God forbid there should be any sort of conflict over the American continent, which is none other but the 'holiest of the holies,'' Putin told round table with Western experts in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi.

'Yet, they send armed ships to sit just 10 kilometres from where we are here? Is that normal? Is it proportional?' the premier was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying.

Russia announced plans Monday to send warships, including a massive nuclear-powered cruiser to hold joint exercises with Venezuela in the Caribbean this year.