Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has accused US bombers of conducting a nuclear attack on Russia from two different directions earlier this month.
According to the British news agency Reuters, he complained on Tuesday that the American planes had landed close to 20 kilometers of the Russian border.The allegations come amid heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow over Ukraine, with US officials expressing concern about a possible Russian attack on their southern neighbor. Russia has denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday stating "Similar, baseless allegations concerning Russia's intelligence have been made more than once.
Russia has since accused the United States, NATO and Ukraine of provocative and irresponsible behavior, including the supply of US weapons to Ukraine, the use of Turkish drones by Ukraine against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, and NATO. Has pointed to military exercises near its borders.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow had noticed a significant increase in the activity of US strategic bombers, which he said had flown 30 times near the Russian border this month. "That's 2.5 times more than the same period last year," he said.
A statement from Russia's Defense Ministry quoted Sergei Shoigu as saying, "The Secretary of Defense stressed that during the US military exercises 'Global Thunder', 10 US strategic bombers pounded Russia from the west and east." "We practiced nuclear weapons."The Russian Defense Minister was quoted as saying that "Russian air defense units spotted and detected US strategic bombers and took necessary measures to prevent any incident."
The Global Thunder is the US Strategic Command's annual nuclear and command exercise designed to develop and test US nuclear capabilities.
President Vladimir Putin gave a brief account of last week's incident in which Western strategic bombers were accused of carrying "extremely lethal weapons" near the Russian border. He said the West was taking Moscow's warnings to cross the "red lines" lighter.Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu expressed these views in a video conference with Chinese Defense Minister Wei Feng. "US bombers flying near Russia's eastern border are also a threat to China," he said.
"In this context, the coordination between Russia and China is becoming a strong factor in global affairs," he said.
"Russia and China have agreed at the meeting to enhance cooperation between their armed forces," the defense ministry said.
