US Bomber Now Buzzing Russians

Russian fighter jets and bombers have flown close to U.S. airspace and buzzed U.S. aircraft and naval vessels over international waters for years now, and especially in the past few months. Well, now they have received a taste of their own medicine.

According to the U.K. Daily Express, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet scrambled to intercept a U.S. B-52 strategic bomber on Tuesday as it flew over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea near Russia’s airspace.

“The crew of the Russian Su-27, in approaching the aerial object at a safe distance, identified it as a US B-52 strategic bomber and escorted it,” a spokesman for the Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet air defense patrol said.

Fox News reported that a Pentagon spokesperson said the B-52 was involved in a “routine mission” as part of a broader training exercise with other members of NATO in the international airspace above the Baltic Sea.

The nuclear-capable B-52 bomber had been deployed to an airbase in the U.K. earlier this month from its home in Louisiana at Barksdale Air Force Base in order to take part in the annual “Baltops” military training exercise.

According to Reuters, Russia also had a Mig-21 fighter jet intercept a Norwegian P-3 Orion anti-submarine patrol aircraft that had gone near Russian airspace over the Barents Sea.

“The fact that NATO forces are converging near Russia’s borders and carrying out military exercises supported by strategic bombers from the USA capable of carrying nuclear weapons hardly helps de-escalate tensions in Europe,” Foreign Ministry official Mikhail Ulyanov told Russian media outlet Sputnik, Reuters reported.

A former Russian Air Force commander named Pyotr Deinekin reportedly told Interfax that he was troubled by the appearance of the B-52 over the Baltic Sea, as such an occurrence hasn’t happened in quite some time.

“Such behavior does not deserve respect,” stated Deinekin. “Strategic bombers should not fly so close to our land borders.”

Perhaps now they know how Americans feel when Russian bombers cruise close to our own borders. I guess the medicine Russia likes to dish out doesn’t taste as good when they get it back.

Deinekin’s sentiments should be forwarded up the chain of Russian military leadership, before these tit-for-tat incidents spark an actual conflict.

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