In a terse statement Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki acknowledged Russia's need for routine training activity.
But she said the number of flights near North America had increased in recent months, and that the United States did not consider Russia's security environment as warranting such activity.
The European Leadership Network, a London-based research institute, said Russian fighter jets earlier this year were spotted conducting maneuvers near Canada and along the California coast.
- Psaki's statements also followed a recent Kremlin warning that Russian long-range bombers would begin regular patrols from the Arctic Ocean to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu linked the new patrols to the need to maintain Russia's military presence "in the current situation" — an apparent reference to the increasingly tense standoff between Moscow and the West over the pro-Russian rebellion in Ukraine.
In the latest incident, the Netherlands said two Dutch fighter jets Wednesday intercepted a Russian military transport in Baltic airspace. Russia denied the overflight occurred..................http://www.voanews.com/content/us-warns-russia-military-flights-near-american-shores/2519857.html
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Estonia and Lithuania say no foreign aircraft violated their air space
No foreign aircraft has violated Lithuania’s air space, the Lithuanian Defence Ministry said on Thursday, commenting on claims by the Dutch military that two Dutch jets had been ordered into the air from an airbase in Poland to escort a Russian transport plane out of the Blatic countries.
“The plane (it was a military transport Ilyushin-76 of the Russian Air Force - TASS) was flying over neutral waters in the zone of reaction stipulated by the North Atlantic Alliance for the Baltic countries. When any aircraft enters this zone, NATO fighters are obligatorily scrambled,” the ministry said, adding that it was a standard procedure.
Nonetheless, the ministry noted that the flight was conducted without a preliminarily agreed plan, which “creates a threat to civil aviation.”
No foreign aircraft has trespassed Estonia’s air border, the General Staff of the Estonian Defence Forces also said.
“Information about violation of Estonia’s air space is not true,” press secretary of the Estonian Defence Forces Arvo Joesalu said..........................http://www.ellanodikis.net/2014/11/estonia-and-lithuania-say-no-foreign.html
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US State Depart thinks scaling up strategic aviation training unjustifiable ...
ReplyDeleteThe US administration believes that there is no need to increase the scale of training flights of long-range Russian Air Force. This was announced on Thursday at a regular press briefing chief of the press service of the US State Department Jen Psaki.
So she commented on the statement by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that "in the current situation we have to provide a military presence in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans, in the waters of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico."
In addition, the "Plan military training of strategic aviation units provided aircraft flights along the borders of the Russian Federation and over the Arctic Ocean," - said Shoigu, speaking at a meeting of the College of the military...................Read more: http://indian.ruvr.ru/news/2014_11_14/US-State-Depart-thinks-scaling-up-strategic-aviation-training-unjustifiable-1039/
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