Russian bombers 'will strike terrorists abroad'

Russia may use its strategic bombers to unleash preventive strikes against terrorists outside its borders.

Air force commander General Vladimir Mikhailov’s comments to the ITAR-Tass news agency are the most direct yet in Russia’s rising rhetoric on attacking terrorists abroad.

Defence minister Sergei Ivanov and other top officials have said that preventive strikes against terrorists could involve all means except nuclear, but they have nopt given such specifics as suggesting the use of strategic bombers.

Neither the Soviet Union nor Russia has publicly conducted air strikes outside their borders, with the exception of the war in Afghanistan. Soviet pilots flew missions in Korea and during the Middle East wars of the 1960s and 70s, but that was done covertly.

“If ordered, our missile-carrier aircraft will attack the terrorists with long-range, highly precise cruise missiles and aerial bombs. We will make use of everything we have,” Mikhailov said.

ITAR-Tass commented that Russia had initiated discussion about preventive strikes over a year ago “due to Washington’s regular employment of this method in international affairs”.

Russian leaders have claimed a right to pre-emptive strikes before, for example threatening neighbouring Georgia that it would pursue Chechen rebels allegedly sheltering on its territory.

Following terrorist attacks in August and September, Russian president Vladimir Putin and other top military officials have been more pointed in their threats of pre-emptive strikes against terrorists abroad.

Russian analysts said Mikhailov’s announcement did not appear to be targeted at a specific country. Russia would be unlikely to send strategic bombers to attack neighbouring Georgia, independent military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said.

“They are saying: ‘Yes we can do this, we have this capability, more or less, we can attack but we are not planning to’,” Felgenhauer said.

“This is what great powers always do, warning they have the ability to attack.”

But Alexander Pikayev, a senior analyst with Moscow’s Institute for Global Economy and International Relations, said Mikhailov may have simply been trying to promote the air force in order to get more budget funds.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Federal Security Service said an Arab mercenary who was killed in southern Russia late last month was a top representative of the al-Qaida terror network in the troubled North Caucasus region, which includes Chechnya.

The dead man was identified last month as Akhmed Sambiyev, otherwise known as the “White Arab”, and security officials said at the time of the killing that he was either Syrian or Turkish.

The Federal Security Service identified him as a Syrian called Marvan. He was killed on November 25 when he put up armed resistance to arrest in the southern region of Ingushetia, which borders on Chechnya.

The security service’s press office said that Marvan had been active in Chechnya beginning in 2000 and had been close to the late Arab militant leaders Khattab and Abu Walid. It said he was responsible for training young fighters, explosives training, and distributing money coming from foreign terrorist centres.