Show of strength as bombers’ flights resume

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin said yesterday he had ordered the military to resume regular long-range flights of strategic bombers, a show of Russia’s resurgent military power which comes amid a chill in relations with the United States.

Speaking after Russian and Chinese forces completed major war games exercises for the first time on Russian soil, Mr Putin said a halt in such flights after the Soviet collapse had affected Russia’s security as other nations had continued such missions — an oblique reference to the US.

“I have made a decision to resume regular flights of Russian strategic aviation,” he said. “We proceed from the assumption that our partners will view the resumption of flights of Russia’s strategic aviation with understanding.”