http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... d9JnUAYUC8U.K. Scrambles Typhoon Jets to Shadow Russian Strategic Bomber
By Michael Heath
Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. scrambled two air force jets to shadow a Russian strategic bomber off the British coast as President Vladimir Putin ended a 15-year suspension of long-range air patrols.
The Typhoon aircraft tailed the Russian Bear-H plane over the northern Atlantic Ocean on Aug. 17, the Ministry of Defence said on its Web site and posted a photograph of a British jet next to the bomber.
The incident occurred the day Putin ordered a ``permanent'' resumption of strategic bomber flights around the world.
Russia is reasserting its global military might with a new intercontinental ballistic missile, upgrades to its air force and the development of its navy. It is seeking to counter the expansion of NATO in eastern Europe and U.S. plans to deploy anti-missile defense installations in the region.
The flight near the U.K. coast came after Russian bomber crews flew near the Pacific island of Guam, where the U.S. has a military base, and ``exchanged smiles'' with their American counterparts, the Associated Press cited Major General Pavel Androsov of the Russian air force as saying earlier this month.
Russia's relations with the U.K. have soured in recent months over the murder of a former KGB spy in Britain. The countries expelled each other's diplomats after Russia refused to extradite former agent Andrei Lugovoi, who is wanted in the U.K. for the murder of fellow ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in London.
Russia froze anti-terrorism cooperation with the U.K. last month after Britain suspended contacts with the Federal Security Service, the main successor agency to the KGB.
Spy Network
Putin vowed last month to expand Russia's spy network to counter ``imbalances'' with the West.
Russia opposes the U.S. proposal to base 10 missile interceptors in Poland and radar installations in the Czech Republic. Both nations are former members of the Warsaw Pact group of countries the Soviet Union created to counter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Putin, who rejects President George W. Bush's assertion the missile shield is aimed at defending Europe from a nuclear-armed Iran, has also suspended Russian participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.
General Yuri Baluyevsky, Chief of Russia's General Staff, warned the Czech Republic's First Deputy Defense Minister Martin Bartak over the central European country's participation in the missile defense system, RIA Novosti said.
`Huge Mistake'
``Russian-Czech consultations on the issue, which were held four months ago, regrettably brought no change in the Czech position,'' Russia's official state news agency cited Baluyevsky as telling Bartak yesterday. ``You made the decision to push ahead with the deployment of a radar on your soil. I believe that would be a huge mistake by your leadership.''
Bartak said a final decision on whether to allow the radar to be based on Czech soil will be taken before year's end.
Putin offered Bush the use of a Russian radar base in Azerbaijan as an alternative to the Czech and Polish sites when they met at the Group of Eight summit in Heiligendamm, Germany in June.
Russia threatened to deploy missiles in its western exclave of Kaliningrad on the border with Poland if the U.S. presses ahead with the shield and ignores the proposed Azerbaijan site.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,, ... 09,00.html
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