PUTIN ANNOUNCES RESUMPTION OF STRATEGIC BOMBER FLIGHTS
President Vladimir Putin said on August 17 during military exercises in the Ural Mountains that Russian strategic bombers have resumed regular long-range flights after a hiatus of about 15 years, Russian and international media reported. He announced that “today, 14 strategic bombers took to the air from seven airfields across the country, along with support and refueling aircraft. In 1992, Russia unilaterally ended flights by its strategic aircraft to distant military patrol areas. Unfortunately, our example was not followed by everyone.” Putin stressed that “flights by other countries’ strategic aircraft continue, and this creates certain problems for ensuring the security of the Russian Federation. [Russia's] patrolling will take place in areas of busy shipping and [areas important for the] economic activities of the Russian Federation.” He said that “starting today, such tours of duty will be conducted regularly. We proceed from the assumption that our partners will view the resumption of flights of Russia’s strategic aviation with understanding.” Putin argued that “our pilots have been grounded for too long. From what I know, they are happy to be starting a new life.” He did not mention the United States by name, but regular strategic bomber flights by the U.S. and Soviet air forces were standard practice during the Cold War. Russian strategic bombers recently flew to the fringes of British airspace and over the Pacific in the direction of the U.S. base at Guam.
RUSSIA TAKES BBC OFF FM FREQUENCIES
In other news, Britain’s “The Guardian” reported on August 18 that the Russian authorities took BBC World Service Russian-language broadcasts off the air as part of the ongoing diplomatic row between the two countries, which stems from Russia’s refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the prime suspect in the 2006 London poisoning death of former Russian security officer Aleksandr Litvinenko (see “RFE/RL Newsline,” July 20, 25, and 27, 2007). The daily noted that Moscow’s Bolshoye Radio, which was the BBC’s last Russian FM rebroadcaster, received a notice on August 16 to stop the transmissions or lose its license. The station stopped the rebroadcasts the following day. The BBC called the authorities’ decision “highly irregular and extremely disappointing.” The British daily noted that “Yevgeny Strelchik of Rosokhrankultura, the federal media regulator, said the shutdown had nothing to do with the Kremlin. He told ‘The Guardian’: ‘Why do you bother calling me now when this happens to the BBC? When the same thing happens to Russian media like Ekho Moskvy [radio], you don’t react. This process [of terminating rebroadcasting agreements] has been going on for at least two years. It’s a question for radio partner stations, not for us.’ He then hung up.”
Copyright (c) 2007. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
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