The head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Sergei Rudskoy, spoke about the readiness of air defense systems to shoot down strategic U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers that flew near Russian borders on May 29.
This information is based on a press release sent by the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces to Russian media, EDNews.net reports citing Bulgarian Military.
Rudskoy noted that Russia is closely monitoring all flights of American “strategists”. According to him, on May 29, air defense calculations as US aircraft approached were also ready for immediate use.
It is noted that if in April 2020 only one flight of strategic bombers near Kamchatka was recorded, then in May – already five. It is known that US aircraft were approaching the border of the Kaliningrad region at a distance of up to ten kilometers.
At the same time, the Chief of the General Staff separately noted that Moscow is ready to conclude an agreement with NATO on the minimum rapprochement distances for military aircraft.
On May 29, the Russian Ministry of Defense released a video of the interception of US Air Force B-1B bombers. They were discovered over the neutral waters of the Black and Baltic Seas. Russian fighters approached American planes, after which they turned away from the border.
The Ministry of Defense told reporters that Su-27P and Su-30SM fighters from the air defense duty forces of the Southern Military District were raised to intercept. At the same time, the military department noted that the flight was in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace.