|
Post by Watchman on Oct 2, 2006 20:35:57 GMT -5
Saturday, September 30, 2006 (Moscow):
The Russian air force held a massive exercise that involved strategic bombers flying across the North Pole and approaching Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and Japan, a top general said today.
Lt. Gen. Igor Khvorov, the commander of Russian long-range aviation, said the exercise that began Tuesday and finished Friday had nothing to do with heightening tensions between Russia and Georgia, Russian news reports said.
Georgia detained four Russian officers on spying charges this week, triggering one of the worst crises between the ex-Soviet neighbors since the 1991 Soviet collapse.
Khvorov said the exercise involved 70 Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 bombers, which test-fired 18 cruise missiles, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
He said some bombers crossed the Arctic Ocean, flew over the North Pole and also reached Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and Japan's western coast without entering any country's airspace.
"All the aircraft involved flew over neutral waters, and none of them came closer than 25 kilometers to the maritime borders of any country," Khvorov said, according to RIA Novosti.
Meanwhile, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces said in a statement that it held a command post exercise aimed at practicing the transfer of troops from a peacetime to a wartime posture and warfare using conventional and nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported. (AP)
|
|