American bombers practiced cruise missile strikes against targets in Russia at the end of August, said Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces Sergei Surovikin at a briefing for foreign military attachés.

He spoke about three B-52H bombers, which took off on August 31 from Fairford airbase in Great Britain and proceeded over the territories of the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, the Baltic countries to the area of ​​the Estonian Tapa training ground, and then back over the waters of the Baltic and North Seas.

“In our assessment, during this event, the B-52H crews practiced reaching the line of using cruise missiles with a simulated missile strike at targets in the Kaliningrad region and other western regions of our country,” Surovikin said.

According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces, three days earlier, American bombers practiced the use of cruise missiles from airspace over the water area of ​​the central part of the Black Sea and over the territory of Estonia.

In addition, two more B-52Hs performed similar combat training missions in the Arctic latitudes over the territory of Canada.

As Surovikin pointed out, practicing the issues of the combat use of strategic aircraft in the vicinity of the Russian borders is “hostile and provocative”.

He noted that the detection of the B-52H with the help of an over-the-horizon radar at the maximum range made it possible to quickly target Su-30SM and Su-27 fighters for interception, patrol escort and prevention of violations of the airspace of the Russian Federation.

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“The measures taken by the High Command of the Aerospace Forces made it possible to timely reveal the activities of strategic bombers of the US Air Force and NATO countries, as well as organize effective countermeasures,” Surovikin said.

Note that at the end of August, at least two situations were reported when Russian Su-27 fighters rose to intercept B-52H bombers.

Two aircraft from the air defense forces of the Baltic Fleet on 28 August rose to intercept the B-52H.

A similar incident occurred on August 31, but there were three bombers that time.

As Surovikin pointed out, NATO forces also conducted an unprecedented reconnaissance operation over the Black Sea on 4 September.

According to him, five reconnaissance aircraft and one strategic unmanned reconnaissance vehicle were simultaneously in the air.

At the same time, foreign aircraft approached the Russian border by 15 km and conducted reconnaissance of the territory of the Russian Federation to a depth of 600 kilometers.

Surovikin stressed that it was possible to avoid incidents with military aircraft only due to the professionalism of the Russian pilots.

“The actions of the US Air Force and NATO fundamentally contradict the statements of the officials of the alliance about the desire to avoid incidents during the training activities.

They can be avoided only due to the high level of professional training of the Russian Aerospace Forces pilots, ”said the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces.

As the general explained, the state border in the airspace is not as pronounced as on the ground, as a result of which a foreign aircraft can be in the adjacent territory in a matter of minutes.

Russian radars and air defense systems, in turn, are put on a high level of alert, and all this can lead to an incident, Surovikin noted.

Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke about the problem of increased activity of NATO aircraft near the Russian borders.

He stated that the frequency of training flights with imitation of missile strikes on Russian territory is alarming.

“If earlier with one frequency or another (of course, not like now, somewhat less often) it was mainly reconnaissance aircraft, now regular flights and approaches with training, imitation of missile strikes, including the use of a large number of aircraft have begun ", - said Shoigu in an interview with the TV channel" Russia 24 ".

Earlier, Shoigu also cited data according to which the intensity of the use of NATO reconnaissance aircraft near the borders of Russia increased by more than 30% compared to last year.

"In August last year - 87 flights, now - about 120", - said the minister.

He also stressed that only in the period from August 23 to September 2, Russian aviation rose at least ten times to intercept foreign reconnaissance aircraft.