During the US Global Thunder exercise in November, ten US strategic bombers practiced the option of using nuclear weapons against Russia from the west and east.

This was stated by the head of the Russian Ministry of Defense Sergei Shoigu during a video conference with the head of the PRC military department Wei Fenghe.

“In all cases, our air defense assets timely detected American strategic bombers, established continuous monitoring and implemented measures to prevent incidents,” the minister said.

Shoigu clarified that Russian servicemen are recording a significant increase in the activity of the US Air Force's strategic bomber aviation in the immediate vicinity of the state border of the Russian Federation.

“Over the past month, there were about 30 flights to the borders of the Russian Federation, which is 2.5 times more than in the corresponding period last year.

In 2020 alone, the strategic aviation of the United States Air Force performed 22 flights over the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, while in 2019 there were only three, ”Shoigu said.

  • Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu

  • RIA News

  • © Vadim Savitsky

The minister noted that such actions pose a threat to Russia and China, and added that the development of interaction between Moscow and Beijing is especially important in the context of "increasing geopolitical turbulence."

Director of the Franklin Roosevelt Foundation for the Study of the United States at Moscow State University, Yuri Rogulev, in an interview with RT, expressed the opinion that the United States increased the intensity of training flights as an element of pressure.

“The intensity of flights, moreover, in such areas of the interior, which earlier American strategic bombers used extremely rarely - these are the Baltic and the Black Sea.

This is, of course, an element of pressure on Russia - it certainly is present.

These are demonstration flights of strategic aircraft armed with serious strategic weapons, ”the expert noted.

Nikita Danyuk, Deputy Director of the RUDN Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts, a member of the Public Chamber of Russia, also noted that the United States is conducting an "information campaign to unwind the flywheel of Russia's unpredictability and aggressiveness."

"In order to contain it, of course, the United States, allegedly as a guarantor of security, is practicing the use of nuclear weapons in the relations of our country," he explained to RT.

The expert expressed the opinion that there is nothing new in the actions of the American side, and Russia is absolutely ready for such challenges.

In turn, a military expert, retired colonel Viktor Litovkin, expressed the opinion that, in addition to Washington's desire to show "who is the boss," the American side, conducting similar exercises near the Russian borders, is recouping for the failure of the military operation in Afghanistan.

“The whole world has seen what the vaunted American military power is worth.

And now they are trying to return, so they go with their ships to our Black Sea, reconnaissance planes fly along our borders, simulated an attack with nuclear missiles, ”he said.

The expert stressed that the Russian side is doing everything necessary to protect its borders.

We will remind, at the end of October, Sergei Shoigu said that NATO, against the background of calls to contain Russia, is pulling forces to the borders of the country.

Later, the minister noted that ships of foreign states with high-precision long-range weapons on board entering the Black Sea are trying to test Russia's defense capability in the Black Sea coast by their actions.

On November 1, during a meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and enterprises of the military-industrial complex, President Vladimir Putin also drew attention to the attempts of a number of Western countries to “break” the existing strategic parity, “including by deploying elements of a global anti-missile defense in close proximity to Russian borders ".

On November 18, Putin announced that NATO strategic bombers were flying 20 kilometers from Russian borders.

He recalled that the Russian side constantly expresses its concerns about this and talks about the red lines, but at the same time Moscow understands that the partners are “very peculiar” and “superficially treat” warnings.

In recent years, Russia has repeatedly recorded cases of violations or attempts to violate Russian state borders by military aircraft and ships of NATO member countries.

Moscow called on the alliance to stop provocations and act within the framework of international law.