Off the wire
Port of Rotterdam container throughput growth below expectations  • Ghana imposes curfew on northern town following shooting  • U.S. dollar rises against most major currencies  • Guinea-Bissau PM recuses Guinean president as crisis mediator  • Tourism to Israel bounces back  • Brexit court case barrister to speak in House of Lords debate  • Egypt jails ex-minister 7 years over corruption  • Real Madrid again refuse to allow Bernabeu be venue for Cup final  • Tanzania saves over 400 mln USD from foreign travel ban  • Emigration figures double in Lithuania in January  
You are here:   Home

Russian bombers patrol over waters off NW Europe

Xinhua, February 10, 2017 Adjust font size:

Russian strategic bombers patrolled seas off northwestern Europe on Thursday amid military buildup by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) near its borders.

Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that two Russian Tu-160 long-range bombers flew over the neutral waters in the Barents Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Atlantic.

"The flights strictly complied with international regulations on the use of airspace over neutral waters, without violating the borders of other countries," the ministry's spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

The Russian aircraft were closely followed at some stages of the the flights by NATO combat aircraft, including British jets, according to the spokesman.

Last month, Poland received about 1,000 U.S. soldiers and a tank brigade comprising some 3,500 servicemen and various weaponry.

NATO has also decided to deploy multinational battalions to the Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

The bloc's military expansion poses a threat to Russia and greatly increases the danger of possible incidents, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksey Meshkov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency Thursday. Endit