Putin is deploying Cold War-esque bomber patrols near the US border. (Photo from Getty via Daily Star)
Is Russia preparing for war? The powerhouse has deployed its biggest and most powerful nuclear bombers on Cold War-esque patrols on the border of the United States airspace. The Kremlin has also sent a warship to the Mediterranean sea amid growing fears in the West of a possible World War 3.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has recently signed off a new division of massive nuclear capable bombers to patrol around the region. Long-range strategic bombers TU-95Ms and TU-22M3s, dubbed as the “Blackjacks” and “Bears”, are set to make regular patrols which were common during the Cold War. The said bombers will undertake flights over the Pacific Ocean extending as far as Hawaii and US military bases in Guam.
The superpower has also dispatched another warship off to Mediterranean. Express reports that Russia’s missile corvette has left its Black Sea Fleet base of Sevastopol to join a group of warships in the area. The Malakhit cruise missile-armed “Mirazh” follows two more Kalibr-armed Black Sea Fleet missile corvettes— the “Serpukhov” and the “Zelyony Dol” — that are sailing to the same location as well.
Is Russia preparing for war? Vladimir Putin sends a warship to Mediterranean. (Photo from Getty via Express)
Captain 2nd Rank Nikolai Voskresensky, a spokesman for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, confirmed this to Russian news agencies on Wednesday, saying the two warships have already left their home port in Crimea on Tuesday as part of the country’s planned offshore maritime zone rotation. According to Voskresensky, the two missile ships “have passed the Black Sea straits and will enter the Mediterranean waters in [Wednesday] evening.”
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The two latter vessels are returning to join its naval forces in the Mediterranean after carrying out missile strikes against militants’ positions in Syria on August 19. The redeployment comes a day after Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov’s announcement that the country has sent the S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system to Syria to protect the Russian naval base in Tartus.
Brewing tensions between Russia and US
The Kremlin claims the new assignment of the ships is still in assistance to the fight against the “barbaric” Islamic State (ISIS). However, its recent nuclear activities are ringing alarm bells to the West whose tensions with Russia are already high over disagreements in Syria.
As previously noted, the United States has repeatedly condemned Russia’s actions surrounding the ongoing Syrian war which the former claims were leading to death and destruction. The West thinks extremist groups will continue exploiting vacuums to expand their operations. This could reportedly include strikes against Russian interests or even Russian cities.
Russia Preparing for War — The clash between the US and Russia could be coming as relations seem to worsen. (Photo from Getty via Daily Star)
“Russia will continue to send troops home in body bags, and will continue to lose resources, perhaps even aircraft,” a US State Department spokesperson said.
Prior to the redeployment of its warships, the Putin-led country has already implemented a four-day “civil defense” drill in preparation for an imminent nuclear war. The massive evacuation of 40 million citizens follows the Ministry of Defense’s warning of “schizophrenics from America sharpening atomic weapons for Moscow.”
People were told that a war with the West may happen anytime and that Kremlin officials have already prepared underground shelters to house an estimate of 12 million evacuees.
