Russia May Send Strategic Bombers to Cuba, Venezuela
March 14 (Bloomberg) — Russia could land strategic bombers at Cuban and Venezuelan airfields while conducting patrols, the head of the Russian strategic air force was quoted as saying by the Interfax news service.
“With Cuba, this is possible,” the Moscow-based agency quoted Major General Anatoly Zhikharev as saying. “There are four or five airfields with 4,000-meter (13,000-feet) runways which suit us completely.”
Russia has also received an offer to temporarily station bombers in Venezuela from President Hugo Chavez, which Zhikharev called “possible,” according to state television station Vesti-24.
“If the heads of the two countries show the will, the political will, then we are prepared to fly there,” Zhikharev said, according to Interfax.
A Kremlin spokesman said that Zhikharev was speaking about the technical ability of the airstrips to receive the planes. “Most countries have runways where our bombers could land,” he said today by telephone.
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