Videos Show Russia's Nuclear Bombers Buzzing NATO Borders

The Russian military on Wednesday announced the deployments of four nuclear-capable bombers over three major European seas bordering NATO states amid Ukraine's surprise incursion into Russia's territory this month.

Two Tu-95MS strategic bombers flew over the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea while two Tu-22M3 long-range bombers were sent over the Baltic Sea, Russia's Defense Ministry said. Moscow said the flights were conducted in "strict compliance" with international rules for the use of airspace.

Both bombers are capable of carrying out nuclear strikes. The Tu-95MS is part of Russia's strategic forces, while the Tu-22M3 is assigned to its non-strategic forces. Most of Moscow's non-strategic forces use shorter-range, dual-capable weapon systems, which means they can perform conventional strikes as well.

The Barents Sea is considered Russia's "Arctic backyard," serving as a major waterway for the Russian navy's Northern Fleet for deployments to the North Atlantic Ocean. To the southwest is the Norwegian Sea, which is located between Iceland to the west and the Scandinavian Peninsula to the east.

The Baltic Sea, meanwhile, has been dubbed "NATO Lake" since Finland and Sweden's accession to the alliance. It is surrounded by alliance members except for Russia's Baltic stronghold of Kaliningrad, a semi-exclave within the Gulf of Finland, which leads to St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city.

Russia said the Tu-95MS training flight lasted over four hours, and they were escorted by MiG-31 fighter jets. The five-hour Tu-22M3 flight over the Baltic Sea was supported by Su-30SM and Su-27 fighter jets.

Both bomber groups encountered "foreign fighter aircraft," the ministry said without details.

The German air force confirmed the presence of Russian bombers over the Baltic Sea on Wednesday in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The Luftwaffe scrambled Eurofighter Typhoons stationed in Latvia to intercepted the "armed" Russian aircraft, before Sweden's fighter jets took over the NATO air policing mission.

Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, a Washington think tank, noted on X that one of the Tu-22M3 bombers was carrying a Kh-22 or Kh-32 cruise missile under its wing. The dual-capable precision missile has been used to bomb Ukraine.

The Russian military's long-range aviation units routinely conduct flight operations over different waters in the Northern Hemisphere, including over the Arctic Ocean, the North Pacific Ocean and the Black Sea. Aerial encounters between Moscow's military aircraft and NATO fighter jets in Europe are common.

NATO maintains air policing missions in five areas in Europe: the Baltic Sea; Iceland; Romania and Bulgaria; the Benelux nations of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg; and the western Balkans.

The missions aim to detect, intercept, identify and escort any unknown aircraft flying inside or approaching NATO airspace. The alliance announced last week that Britain had sent F-35B stealth fighter to Iceland, the first time the fifth-generation jet has joined such deployments.

Meanwhile, one of the U.S. Air Force F-35A fighter aircraft stationed in Britain conducted a "find, fix, track and target" kill chain exercise over Poland on Tuesday, according to photos published by the Air Force.

"The successful execution of this exercise demonstrates the close cooperation between U.S. and allied forces, builds on previous efforts to enhance NATO interoperability, and furthers shared commitment to global security and stability," the Air Force said.

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