The Russian Ministry of Defense will send long-range aircraft to the Gulf of Mexico

Long-range aviation aircraft will fly along the borders of Russia and in the Arctic Ocean, as well as provide a military presence in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans. This statement was made on November 12 by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

In addition, the head of the Defense Ministry said that in the southwest of Russia, in the southwestern strategic direction, the military-political situation "remains difficult." “Under these conditions, one of the priority tasks is the formation of a full-fledged and self-sufficient interspecific grouping of troops on the Crimean Peninsula,” Shoigu said.

“In the current situation, we are forced to maintain a military presence in the western part of the Atlantic and in the eastern part of the Pacific oceans in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico,” Shoigu said.

RIA Novosti

• During the Cold War, Soviet long-range aviation regularly flew over the Atlantic and the Pacific. After the collapse of the USSR, this practice actually came to naught, but the flights of Russian long-range aircraft, potentially capable of carrying nuclear charges on board, were resumed shortly after Vladimir Putin took over as president of the Russian Federation.
• Since March 2014, when relations between the Russian Federation and Western countries deteriorated due to the crisis in Ukraine, the Russian Air Force has dramatically increased flights near the borders of Europe. According to NATO, aircraft of the Russian Air Force began to approach the airspace of the Alliance member countries three times more often than a year earlier.