To improve the performance of our website, show the most relevant news products and targeted advertising, we collect technical impersonal information about you, including through the tools of our partners. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy. For a detailed description of the technologies, please see the Cookie and Automatic Logging Policy. By clicking on the "Accept & Close" button, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your data to achieve the above goal. You can withdraw your consent using the method specified in the Privacy Policy.<doc-sep>When two of Russia’s most modern, nuclear-capable bombers landed in Venezuela earlier this week, American officials quickly took note. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted out a statement calling the move “two corrupt governments squandering public funds, and squelching liberty and freedom while their people suffer.” The angry reaction may well have been the intended purpose, according to experts on Russia and Venezuela. The arrival of the Tu-160 “White Swan” strategic bombers in Caracas on Monday serves to remind the United States that Russia can still project military might into the Western hemisphere, says Miriam Lanskoy, the Senior Director for Russia and Eurasia at the National Endowment for Democracy, a non-profit. “I don’t know that this constitutes some kind of military threat, but it is a communication about Russia’s overall global reach.” The Tu-160 bombers were manufactured at the end of the Cold War and are among the most advanced strategic bombers in the world. They are capable of flying at twice the speed of sound and carrying both conventional and nuclear-armed cruise missiles that have a range of more than 3,400 miles. It’s not known whether the Russian bombers were carrying any kind of armament on their visit to Venezuela. The White House told The Hill that the bombers — along with a Russian An-124 cargo plane and an Il-62 passenger jet — would leave on Friday. Russia and Venezuela have had close military ties for decades. During boom times, oil-rich Venezuela has been a major buyer of Russian military hardware — with contracts for fighter jets, tanks, small arms and other equipment totaling more than $12 billion, according to Americas Quarterly. More recently, Russia has helped Venezuela develop a cryptocurrency intended to help it evade U.S. sanctions. Those ties have loosened since Venezuela’s economy went into freefall in 2014 following years of declining oil production and economic mismanagement, but Russia is currently working to expand its influence in Latin America as well as around the world, Lanskoy says. Russia’s military has for years been intervening in Syria to help prop up dictator Bashar al-Assad, but it is also reportedly making inroads with U.S. allies like Turkey and Saudi Arabia. In Africa, a close Putin ally is reportedly offering mercenaries to strongmen in 10 nations. Russia’s decision to land bombers in Venezuela also comes as the U.S. plans to pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which restricts the United States and Russia from keeping a broad range of nuclear-armed missiles. American officials say new Russian weapons are in violation of the treaty. “This is Russia trying to force the U.S. to say, ‘listen, if you withdraw from this and if you make these moves in Europe, we will make these moves as well,’” says Diego Moya-Ocampos, a Venezuela analyst for IHS Markit. For Venezuela, whose collapsing economy has led to chronic food and medicine shortages, the Russian mission represents a useful cameo on the world stage. President Nicolas Maduro will also be happy of a demonstration to potential opponents in the Venezuelan military that he still has powerful friends in Moscow, Moya-Ocampos said. The United States has imposed sanctions on several top Venezuelan officials, and earlier this year barred Americans from buying Venezuelan debt or debt from the state-run oil company. The long-term repercussions of the Russian bombers’ presence are likely to be limited. Both Moya-Ocampos and Lanskoy say it’s unlikely the short-term stay of the Russian Tu-160 bombers could result in the establishment of of a Russian air base, like the one in Syria, or a Cuban Missile Crisis-style standoff with Russia stationing nuclear weapons in Venezuela. A Russian base would represent a much larger investment in Venezuela than Russia has signaled it’s willing to make, as well as a larger provocation to the United States. “The permanent deployment of Russian troops on Venezuelan soil would go beyond the big brother relationship between Russia and Venezuela,” Moya-Ocampos says. Moya-Ocampos also says Russia’s friendship with Venezuela is doing nothing to improve the desperate situation of Venezuelan citizens. The Russians — who had provided billion in loans to Venezuela — are now using the relationship to establish access to lucrative Venezuelan oil and mining. Dire conditions in Venezuela are likely to get even worse in 2019. The International Monetary Fund estimated that the Venezuelan economy shrank by 18% in 2018, and expects a further contraction by 5% in 2019. Hyperinflation, estimated at 1.37 million percent in 2018, could reach 10 million percent for 2019. “It’s simply a mess, the whole country is going down the drain,” Moya-Ocampos says. Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Please attempt to sign up again. Sign Up Now An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later. Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder. Write to Michael Zennie at michael.zennie@time.com.<doc-sep>A pair of Russian supersonic, nuclear-capable bombers buzzed North America Saturday, forcing American and Canadian fighter jets to scramble and intercept them, the U.S. military said. The two Russian Tu-160 Blackjack bombers “remained in international airspace,” but were escorted by two U.S. Air Force F-22 fighter jets and two Canadian CF-18 jets, according to a statement from the North American Aerospace Defense Command, better known as NORAD. The U.S. jets flew from an Air Force base in Alaska. The Russian bomber flight near North America — the first known flight this year — coincides with the visit of NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to Washington to meet Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan and national security adviser John Bolton. BOLTON ATTEMPTS TO CLARIFY NATION'S NEXT STEP IN SYRIA President Trump has mulled pulling the United States out of NATO, according to senior administration officials. U.S. reconnaissance aircraft routinely fly off the coast of Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea, staying just outside the 12-nautical-mile terroritorial limit. In 2017, U.S. nuclear-capable bombers flew over the Baltic Sea and were intercepted by Russian fighter jets. CLICK HERE TO GET FOX NEWS APP And in 2018. a similar scenario played out as Russian bombers escorted by fighter jets flew near Alaska on Sept. 11 before the U.S. intercepted them with F-22s. In early December, a pair of Russian Tu-160 Blackjack bombers flew to Venezuela from Russia in a sign of support for embattled President Nicholas Maduro.<doc-sep>Russia has landed two nuclear-capable “Blackjack” bombers in Venezuela as part of a joint training exercise experts say is designed to showcase Moscow’s growing military prowess and shore up the position of Venezuela’s embattled president, Nicolás Maduro. The Tu-160 planes touched down at the Simón Bolívar international airport near Caracas on Monday morning, according to Venezuelan state media. Russia’s defence ministry said the strategic bombers – used during the country’s campaign in Syria – were part of a larger fleet also including an An-124 military transport plane and an Il-62 passenger jet that had flown more than 10,000km to Venezuela. Venezuela’s defence minister, Vladimir Padrino López, said the arrival of the aircraft for joint manoeuvres was not intended as a provocation. “We are makers of peace, not war,” he was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster Venezolana de Televisión (VTV). Russia’s ambassador in Caracas, Vladimir Zaemskiy, told VTV the deployment reflected the “very fruitful” military partnership that had developed since the relationship was forged by Venezuela’s late leader Hugo Chávez in 2005. However, specialists say the move – which follows a three-day visit to Moscow by Maduro last week – is designed to signal to Washington that Caracas is not without international support. Earlier this month the US defense secretary, James Mattis, described Maduro as an irresponsible despot who was leading his country into ruin and would ultimately “have to go”. Last year Donald Trump told reporters there were “many options” to resolve the Venezuelan crisis, before adding: “And by the way, I’m not going to rule out a military option.” “Russian military exercises involving Venezuela are not new, but the timing is suspect,” said Harold Trinkunas, a Venezuela specialist at Stanford University. Trinkunas said the deployment was “most likely a signal of support for the Maduro regime at a time when both Russia and Venezuela are experiencing increased tensions with the United States”. “Russia has also been keen to exercise its long-range military capabilities in recent years, and such a visit to Venezuela fulfils that function as well,” he added. For Maduro the visit was designed to underline that he did enjoy some “external support vis-a-vis the United States and its sanctions” as well as seeking to highlight Venezuela’s geopolitical relevance. Maduro, who blames his country’s economic collapse on a US-driven “economic war”, returned from his trip to Russia touting $6bn in investment and deals designed to shore up Venezuela’s crumbling economy. He lashed out at the US on Sunday night, claiming a White House-backed coup attempt was afoot designed to “disturb Venezuela’s democratic life”. Venezuela’s president offered no evidence to back up his claim but promised to reveal further details at a future press conference. A Pentagon spokesman, Robert Manning, said Russia’s deployment was inappropriate given the humanitarian “tragedy” unfolding in Venezuela. The US had responded by sending a hospital ship to treat ailing Venezuelan refugees in neighbouring Colombia, Manning noted. “Contrast this with Russia, whose approach to the manmade disaster in Venezuela is to send bomber aircraft instead of humanitarian assistance,” he said.<doc-sep>
U.S. and Canadian fighter jets were scrambled to escort two Russian nuclear-capable bombers away from the North American coastline in the Arctic region, military officials say. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) on January 26 said two Russian Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers were identified entering an area patrolled by the Royal Canadian Air Force on January 25. It said two U.S. F-22 and two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets flew to the location and escorted the Russian bombers out of the zone. The U.S. jets flew out of a base in the U.S. state of Alaska, the military said. The reports did not specify the exact location of the encounter. The military monitors air traffic in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, which extends 320 kilometers off Alaska. Russian state-run TASS news agency on January 27 cited U.S. officials as saying the Russian jets did not enter “sovereign territory.” It quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying the two strategic bombers “completed a scheduled flight over neutral waters of the Arctic Ocean [and] practiced refueling” during a 15-hour flight. There were no reports of conflict between the Russian and the U.S. and Canadian warplanes. "NORAD's top priority is defending Canada and the United States,” General Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy, the NORAD commander, said in a statement. “Our ability to protect our nations starts with successfully detecting, tracking, and positively identifying aircraft of interest approaching U.S. and Canadian airspace." NORAD, a combined U.S.-Canadian command, uses radar, satellites, and aircraft to monitor aircraft entering U.S. or Canadian airspace. U.S. officials have reported several incidents of U.S. and Canadian jets scrambling to intercept Russian warplanes and escorting them from the region. In September 2018, the Pentagon issued a protest after U.S. Air Force fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers in international airspace west of Alaska. In that incident, the jets followed the Russian craft until they left the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone. In April 2017, Russian warplanes flew near Alaska and Canada several times, prompting air defense forces to scramble jets after a two-year lull in such activity. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the incident, saying the bombers were performing "scheduled flights over neutral waters" when they were escorted by the U.S. F-22 warplanes. Encounters between Russian and NATO warplanes in various parts of the world have increased in recent years as Moscow demonstrates its resurgent military might. Moscow said it scrambled a jet in June 2017 to intercept a nuclear-capable U.S. B-52 bomber it said was flying over the Baltic Sea. With reporting by AP, Reuters, and Fox News