Gen. James Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, (R) speaks during a joint news briefing with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at the Pentagon in Washington January 17, 2008.
Photo: Reuters
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U.S. Doesn’t Believe in Russia’s Hostile Intent
The United States doesn’t believe that Russia has hostile intentions toward it, Reuters reported with reference to a Pentagon official, who didn’t appear particularly agitated about Russia’s combat mission near the U.S. aircraft carrier Nimitz.
“You always look at somebody’s capability and intent. And, OK, the Russians have the capability. What’s their intent?” Reuters quoted the defense official as saying.
On February 9, one of Russia’s Tu-95 strategic bombers approached (610 meters) the U.S. aircraft carrier Nimitz south of Japan. Another Tu-95 was cruising some 90 kilometers from the vessel. Four fighter jets took off from Nimitz to escort the Russians.
Japan blamed the air boundary violation on Russia, but Moscow denied the intrusion, asserting the flights were made over the neutral waters.
Russia resumed air patrols of remote areas past August after the break of 15 years. The purpose is to manifest continuous presence of the country in strategically vital regions. The patrol jets have no armament aboard.
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