Canadian leaders launched a verbal barrage at the Kremlin following the interception of two nuclear-capable Russian strategic bombers last month, the Canwest News Service reported Saturday (see GSN, Feb. 6).
The North American Aerospace Defense Command detected the bombers on the eve of U.S. President Barack Obama's Feb. 19 visit to Ottawa. Canada dispatched two CF-18 fighter jets that met at least one of the aircraft just outside Canadian airspace, Defense Minister Peter MacKay said Friday. NORAD and Canadian defense officials later indicated that a second Russian bomber was involved.
"It's not a game," MacKay said. "I've personally asked both the Russian ambassador and my counterpart that we are given a heads-up when this type of air traffic is to occur. And to date we have not received that kind of notice that would be preferable" (Mike Blanchfield, Canwest News Service/National Post, Feb. 28).
"I'm not going to stand here and accuse the Russians of having deliberately done this during the presidential visit," Agence France-Presse quoted him as saying. "But it was a strong coincidence" (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Feb. 27).
Russia began sending strategic bombers on long-range patrols in August 2007 after suspending the practice after the end of the Cold War.
"I have expressed at various times the deep concern our government has with increasingly aggressive Russian actions around the globe and Russian intrusions into our airspace," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday. "This government has responded every time the Russians have done that. We will continue to respond; we will defend our airspace."
"The Tupolev 160 [bomber] fulfilled all its air patrol tasks. It was a planned flight," RIA Novosti quoted Russian air force spokesman Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik as saying. Drik said the bombers remained within international airspace at all times.
"The statements from Canada's Defense Ministry are perplexing to say the least and cannot be called anything other than a farce," Interfax quoted one Russian military source as saying (Blanchfield, Canwest).