As a show of force?
Putin flies in a nuclear-capable supersonic bomber
February 22, 2024, 5:41 p.m
In Kazan, Vladimir Putin boards a new supersonic bomber that resembles a Concorde and can carry nuclear warheads. The 71-year-old then appears enthusiastic.
According to state media reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin undertook a test flight aboard a supersonic bomber capable of carrying nuclear warheads. State television showed footage of the Tu-160M warplane taking off from the runway of an aircraft manufacturer in Kazan, central Russia. “This is a really new machine, new in many ways. It is easier to operate. This can be seen even with the naked, untrained eye,” Putin told a group of journalists after landing.
State news agencies reported that Putin spent 30 minutes aboard the strategic bomber, which is part of Russia’s nuclear arsenal. It is a modernized version of an aircraft designed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The apparent show of force comes just two days before the second anniversary of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
Moscow repeatedly brings up the use of nuclear weapons. In a post on Telegram this month, former President Medvedev said that if a war were to break out, NATO countries and Russia would not fight it “in trenches, with artillery, armored vehicles, drones and electronic warfare.” would. The ex-president, who is deputy chairman of the Security Council, sees the reason for this in the strength of the NATO alliance.
Putin boarding the plane.
(Photo: IMAGO/ITAR-TASS)
“NATO is a huge military bloc, the total population of the alliance countries is about a billion people, and their combined military budget can reach up to 1.5 trillion dollars. So, since our military capabilities are not “We will simply have no other choice,” said Medvedev. One answer will be “asymmetrical.”
Medvedev then spoke of the “defense of territorial integrity”, i.e. the preservation of Russian national territory, without mentioning the extent to which it was threatened. Defense would be carried out with “ballistic missiles and cruise missiles with special warheads,” said the ex-president.