Russian military flights sending message they are ‘great power’: NATO leader

RUSSIA’S recent military flights into European airspace are meant to demonstrate to the West that the country is a “great power,” NATO’s supreme allied commander said on Monday.

Although there has been an increase in Russian air activity over Europe during the past year, last week marked the first time Moscow had sent in larger formations of warplanes, General Philip Breedlove told reporters.

“My opinion is they’re messaging us. They’re messaging us that they are a great power,” Breedlove said.

Moscow wanted to show it can exert influence on the alliance’s calculations, he said.

NATO last week reported a series of flights by Russian fighter jets, long-range bombers and tanker aircraft over the Baltics, North Sea and Atlantic Ocean, days before a controversial election held by pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine on Sunday.

NATO fighter jets quickly intercepted the Russian planes and escorted them out of European airspace without incident.




U.S. air force Gen. Philip Breedlove has said Russian aggression is cause for ‘concern’ recently. Pic: AP Photo/Grigoris Siamidis. Source: AP

In the past, Russian flights were carried out by small groups of one or two aircraft, he said.

“And what you saw this past week was a larger, more complex formation of aircraft, carrying out a little deeper — I would say a little bit more provocative flight path,” the US general said.

The flights were cause for “concern” and “do not add to or contribute to a secure and stable situation.” Russian naval forces also have taken similar provocative steps over the past year in the Black Sea, the North Sea and even in the Pacific Ocean, Breedlove said.

The head of NATO forces and top US general in Europe spoke a day after controversial elections held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, which have been denounced as illegitimate by the United States and European governments.

Breedlove said it was too early to say how the polls would affect the security situation in Ukraine, but he said the elections were opposed all along by the United States and that it was “not helpful” to efforts to end the conflict.




Military officials take part in a NATO conference in Greece this week. Pic: AP/Grigoris Siamidis. Source: AP

Citing a “revanchist Russia,” Breedlove said he favoured increasing the number of US troops in Eastern Europe on temporary deployments, in addition to measures already taken to reassure anxious partners on NATO’s eastern border.

“Because of the increased pressure that we feel in Eastern Europe right now and because of the assurance measures that we’re taking in the Baltics, in Poland, in Romania, we require additional rotational presence,” he said.

There already have been modest reinforcements for aviation units in Europe flying C-130 cargo planes and F-16 fighter jets, he said.

Credit to News.com.au