The Russians are back up to their old tricks, it seems. From Reuters:
Just the other day, my brother mentioned that he kind of missed the Cold War days.Britain's air force scrambled four Tornado warplanes to intercept eight Russian long-range bombers, but the Russian planes did not enter British air space, the Ministry of Defence said.
Russia's Defence Ministry said 14 strategic bombers had been flying long-range patrol operations but none approached a foreign state and most were accompanied by fighter jets from NATO countries.
Relations between Britain and Russia are at their worst since the Cold War, but the Foreign Office said Britain did not see a recent Russian decision to resume of long-range patrols as a cause for alarm and that "normal preparedness" was in place.
[...]
The Tupolev Tu-95, code-named 'Bear' by NATO, is Russia's equivalent of the US B-52 bomber and is a Cold War icon.
Russia's Defence Ministry said 14 Russian strategic bombers had started long-range routine patrol operations on Wednesday evening over the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Arctic.
"The planes flew only over neutral water and did not approach the air space of a foreign state," it said."
Practically all the planes were accompanied by fighters from NATO countries."
It is at least the second time in recent months Britain has scrambled jets to intercept Russian bombers.
The sorties by Russian bombers appeared to the latest of the regular long-range patrols that President Vladimir Putin announced last month would be resumed, after a gap following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Perhaps he has a point. The Russkies weren't going to launch nukes at us, any more than we were going to launch nukes at them. And Russians don't tend to strap on explosives and blow themselves up in crowded public places, either.
Sometimes it's a comfort to have an enemy that is somewhat civilized.
Here's a Cold War-era photo of an American F-4 shadowing a Tu-95 that's on a reconnaissance patrol.
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