Russian troops seized the Crimean peninsula, where the
Kremlin's Black Sea fleet is based, after a pro-European
rebellion in western Ukraine ousted Moscow-allied former
President Viktor Yanukovich in February. The March 16
annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation sparked proRussia separatist actions that have spiraled into an armed
conflict that has taken more than 4,000 lives in eastern Ukraine.
Hopefully this serves to drain their economy of even more
capital, wasting money flying bombers internationally...it
would've been cheaper for Putin, and equally as dumb, to
simply flex his biceps and say look at these guns.
The resumption of long-range patrols was hinted at earlier this
year, when Shoigu said Russia was negotiating with allies in
Latin America and Asia for potential use of their bases and
maintenance facilities. The defense chief mentioned at the time
talks under way with former Soviet military allies in Cuba,
Nicaragua, Venezuela and Vietnam.
In the current situation, we have to maintain military presence in
the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific, as well as the
Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. - Russian Defense Minister
Sergei Shoigu on the need to resume Cold War-era bomber
patrols near US shores
Since the Crimea seizure and the violent clashes between
Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists in eastern
Ukraine spurred a tense new crisis in Russia's relations with the
West, the Kremlin's air force has been conducting what
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