Moscow. April 18th. INTERFAX-AVN - The Russian Defense Ministry said that two Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers flew in the airspace over the neutral waters of the Bering and Okhotsk Seas.According to the military, the flight was carried out as part of a sudden check of the combat readiness of the Pacific Fleet.
"All flights of long-range aircraft are carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace over neutral waters, without violating the borders of other states," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
"During the patrol, the missile carriers were refueled in the air from the IL-78 tanker aircraft," the ministry said.
"During the inspection by the crews of the Tu-95MS missile carriers, air patrols and other areas will continue," the report says.
The Sea of Okhotsk washes the shores of Russia and Japan. The Bering Sea is the maritime border between Russia and the United States.
Strategic missile carriers Tu-95MS, Tu-160 and long-range bombers Tu-22M3 are part of the long-range aviation of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation. Long-range aircraft are the air component of the Russian nuclear triad, but they can also strike with conventional missile and bomb weapons, including cruise missiles.
Since April 14, a sudden check of the combat readiness of the Pacific Fleet has been carried out.
"From April 18, we will begin the final stage of verification, during which the ship's strike groups, together with coastal missile divisions, will work out the tasks of launching missile strikes with electronic launches. Strategic missile carriers will make flights to the central Pacific Ocean with simulated strikes on the ship groups of a conditional enemy," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said yesterday at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Shoigu said that the fleet forces will also conduct exercises to search for and destroy submarines and ship groups of a conditional enemy, and carry out practical artillery firing at air and sea targets.
"Upon completion of the inspection, the fleet forces will return to the points of permanent deployment," Shoigu said.
According to him, more than 25 thousand servicemen, 167 ships, including 12 submarines, as well as 89 aircraft and helicopters are involved in the sudden inspection of the Pacific Fleet,
On April 14, Shoigu announced that the Pacific Fleet had been alerted as part of a surprise inspection and was being put on the highest degree of combat readiness.
"In practice, it is necessary to work out ways to prevent the deployment of enemy forces to the operationally important area of the Pacific Ocean - the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk and to repel its landing on the southern Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island," the minister said last Friday at a meeting with the leadership of the military department.
Ships and submarines of the Pacific Fleet began moving from their bases to the Japan, Okhotsk and Bering Seas as part of a surprise inspection, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on April 14 and published the relevant footage.
