Russia Testing NATO Airspace

[Ryan Ruck]

German Typhoons Have Intercepted 7 Russian Air Force Combat Planes Over The Baltic Sea Today

October 28, 2014

According to the Latvian military, on Oct. 28, the German Air Force Eurofighter jets on QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) at Amari, Estonia, to provide NATO Baltic Air Policing were scrambled to intercept seven Russian Air Force planes flying in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.

The German interceptors identified the Russian planes as a large package, made of attack planes and escort, which included 2x MiG-31 Foxhound, 2x Su-34 Fullback, 1x Su-27 Flanker and 2x Su-24 Fencer jets.

Regardless to whether the Russian aircraft were involved in one of the frequent training missions in the Baltics or were commuting to/from the Russian airfield in Kaliningrad oblast, the package on Oct 28 represents one of the largest “formations� intercepted by NATO fighter planes during the last couple of years.

Usually, close encounters involve Russian, Swedish or U.S. spyplanes intercepted before (or after) violating sovereign airspaces. Sometimes, scrambles are required to greet Moscow’s Tu-22 or Tu-95 bombers on long-range training patrols or strike packages involved in (alleged) simulated air strikes on one of North Europe’s states (usually, Sweden).

Anyway, Russian Air Force missions in the Baltic area have surged, to such an extent NATO presence has quadrupled in the last year: from one nation providing four aircraft in QRA at one base in Lithuania (Å*iauliai), to four nations (currently Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Canada) at two airbases (the second being Amari, in Estonia).

[Ryan Ruck]

NATO Fighter Jets Intercept Russian Military Aircraft

October 29, 2014

More than two dozen Russian military aircraft, including six nuclear bombers, have conducted “significant military manoeuvres” on the edges of NATO and European airspace in the past 24 hours, causing jets to be scrambled from eight countries as well as NATO’s own Baltic air policing force.

The incidents – three of which occurred on Wednesday and one on Tuesday – followed last week’s violation of NATO airspace by a Russian spy plane, the first since the end of the cold war. Taken together they constitute the most serious air provocation mounted by the Kremlin against the alliance this year, if not in more than a decade, according to NATO officials.

“These sizeable Russian flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European airspace,” NATO said in a detailed statement issued from its headquarters in Belgium.

Military officials at NATO point to a threefold increase this year in the number of times they have had to scramble fighters to fend off Russian aircraft. Finland and Sweden have separately reported big incidents.

On Wednesday the air forces of alliance members Denmark, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Turkey and the UK, as well as those of Finland and Sweden, remained on high alert.

The most significant intercept on Wednesday occurred in the North Sea. A force of eight Russian aircraft, including four Tu-95 long-range strategic nuclear bombers and four refuelling aircraft, were detected flying in formation at about 3am central European time flying from mainland Russia over the Norwegian Sea.

Six aircraft turned back, but two bombers continued southwards, close to the Norwegian coast and followed by F16s sent to intercept them by the Royal Norwegian air force. When the Russian aircraft then turned over the North Sea, RAF Typhoons were scrambled to intercept as they approached UK airspace. Portuguese fighters were later deployed as they came near the Iberian peninsula.

The aircraft did not file flight plans, had turned off their transponders and did not respond to any radio calls from civilian or military controllers.

Simultaneously, jets from the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission based at Šiauliai in Lithuania had to be scrambled to intercept a force of seven Russian fighters, including two MiG-31 Foxhounds, two Su-34 Fullbacks, one Su-27 Flanker and two Su-24 Fencers.

Turkish jets were also sent up to monitor two Russian strategic bombers escorted by two Russian fighter jets approaching their airspace from across the Black Sea.

On Tuesday, German, Danish, Finnish and Swedish jets had to be scrambled to deal with another big incident in the Baltic, instigated by a force of seven Russian jets identical to that a day later. Though the Russian jets had filed a flight plan, and were using transponders, they kept radio silence with air traffic controllers despite attempts to contact them, according to NATO.

The increased number of Russian air provocations is causing significant concern at the alliance. While NATO has quadrupled the number of jets it has stationed in the Baltic states in the past year – from four to 16 – and has spent more than €150m upgrading airbases there, Russia has remained undeterred in its adventurism in the skies.

In a sign of the jumpiness the Russian provocations have caused among NATO members, RAF jets were also scrambled to guide a civilian Antonov cargo plane into landing in Stansted airport near London on Wednesday evening. The event caused a supersonic boom – triggering calls to police from concerned local residents – as the jets rushed to intercept the plane. The plane had been flying over London when it stopped responding to radio calls from civilian air traffic controllers.

[Ryan Ruck]

NATO Reports Spike In Russian Military Flights

October 29, 2014

NATO on Wednesday reported an "unusual" spike in Russian military flights over the Black, Baltic and North seas and the Atlantic Ocean during the past two days.

Alliance military spokesman Lt. Col. Jay Janzen that four groups made up of Tu-95 Bear H strategic bombers, MiG-31 fighters and other Russian warplanes had been conducting large-scale maneuvers in international airspace.

He said Norwegian, British, Portuguese, German, Danish and Turkish fighters were scrambled in response, as well as planes from the non-NATO nations of Finland and Sweden.

No incidents were reported, but Janzen said the maneuvers were unusual in their size. He said NATO was still tracking some of the Russian planes as of mid-afternoon Wednesday.

Tensions have been running high between NATO and Russia since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in March. According to NATO officials, alliance pilots have conducted over 100 intercepts of Russian aircraft this year, or about three times more than in 2013.

Brynjar Stordal, spokesman for the operational command of Norway's armed forces, said Norwegian F-16s intercepted one formation of Bear bombers and tankers west of Norway.The tankers turned back north, he said, but the bombers kept flying south all the way to international airspace west of Portugal and Spain.

"We've had several of these incidents, around 40 a year," Stordal said. "What sets this apart from some of the missions we see from the Russian side is the formation was a little bit larger than we usually see and they went a bit further south than they usually do."

[American Patriot]

I posted it on another thread too.

[American Patriot]

Nato jets intercept Russian warplanes following 'unusual level of air activity'

Bombers and fighters shadowed during unusual burst of flights over Atlantic, North Sea, Baltic and Black Sea, says alliance

A Norwegian F-16 shadows a Russian air force Tupolev Tu-95 in a photograph released by the Norwegian air force. Photograph: Norwegian air force/EPA

Staff and agencies
Thursday 30 October 2014 03.27 EDT







Nato aircraft have been scrambled to shadow Russian strategic bombers over the Atlantic and Black Sea and fighter planes over the Baltic in what the western alliance called an unusual burst of activity as tensions remain elevated because of the situation in Ukraine.


In all, Nato said, its jets intercepted four groups of Russian aircraft in about 24 hours since Tuesday and some were still on manoeuvres late on Wednesday afternoon.


“These sizeable Russian flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European air space,” the alliance said.


A spokesman stressed there had been no violation of Nato air space, unlike a week earlier when a Russian spy plane briefly crossed Estonia’s border. But so many sorties in one day was unusual compared with recent years.


In the biggest exercise four Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bombers, the 1950s equivalent of the US B-52, flew out over the Norwegian Sea in the early hours of Wednesday, accompanied by four refuelling tanker aircraft.


Norwegian F-16s tracked the formation, which eventually broke up, with six planes heading back toward Russia and two Tu-95s flying on south over the North Sea where they were intercepted by British Typhoons. Portuguese F-16s later tracked them in the Atlantic before they turned for home.


A Norwegian military spokesman said: “We see Russian aircraft near our air space on a regular basis but what was unusual is that it was a large number of aircraft and pushed further south than we normally see.”


In a second incident two Tu-95s accompanied by two fighter jets were being tracked by Turkish aircraft over the Black Sea on Wednesday afternoon, while flights of seven Russian warplanes were monitored on Tuesday and Wednesday over the Baltic Sea.


On Tuesday German and Danish planes were involved in tracking them as well as aircraft from non-Nato states Sweden and Finland. On Wednesday Portuguese F-16s posted in the Baltic intercepted a similar group of fighters and fighter-bombers.


Separately, British jets intercepted a Russian-built Antonov cargo plane that was carrying car parts from Latvia to Birmingham after air traffic controllers became concerned. The plane was diverted to Stansted airport and later cleared to continue its flight.


Nato said it had conducted more than 100 such intercepts of Russian aircraft this year so far, about three times as many as in 2013 before the confrontation with Moscow over separatist revolts in Ukraine soured relations.


President Vladimir Putin has committed to reinvigorating Russia’s armed forces, which had been undermined by the economic troubles that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Tension over Ukraine has seen Nato step up its vigilance, especially on its eastern frontiers with Russia.


The spokesman said there was no particular reason for concern over Russian warplanes exercising their right to fly in international air space but that such sorties were shadowed by Nato aircraft as a precaution and to protect civil air traffic.

[American Patriot]

Air maneuvers over Europe: The silent flight of Russian bombers / Breaking News
30 Ekim, 2014 | 13:10




Transponder turned off, set radio contact: The Russian Air Force has partially switched their maneuvers over North and Baltic Sea on mute. According to NATO 26 military aircraft were involved.

NATO has given more details about the Russian military aircraft in the skies over Europe known. Accordingly, in the past few days during maneuvers total of 26 Russian military aircraft were involved in different incidents.


On Wednesday afternoon, NATO reportedly eight Russian aircraft over the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and four more via been identified over the Black Sea. Moreover, NATO reported seven aircraft of the Russian Air Force on the Baltic Sea.


Unclear as yet there is the question of how far the Russian bombers flew exactly the one hand, NATO reported that Russian aircraft had advanced as far in the air space over Britain and the Atlantic Ocean west of Portugal. On Wednesday, a spokesman for the military alliance had emphasized, however, that the NATO airspace had not been injured in the Russian actions.


The accumulation of contacts in international airspace in is “unusual”. According to NATO figures, the Western alliance has discovered more than a hundred Russian aircraft in European airspace this year, three times as much as last year.
Air maneuvers over Europe: Potential risk for civil aviation

The defense alliance also reacted with the use of fighter jets. Forces from Germany, Great Britain, Norway, Portugal and Turkey were therefore used. About the North Sea four long-range bombers of type Tupolev Tu-95 and four air tankers wants NATO claims to have spotted Ilyushin Il-78.


The NATO criticized the Russian armed forces had during the maneuvers partially neither timetables nor transmitted radio contact maintained with the civilian air traffic control. In part, the Russian aircraft had turned off their transponder. These forward as an automatic signal generator air traffic controllers important information to an aircraft, such as the identifier or the type. This behavior constitutes a potential risk for civil aviation.


Whether the flight is a reaction of Russia to the hard line of the West, remains unclear. Poland announced last troop reinforcements to the east of the country. Given the Ukraine-NATO crisis had intensified their operations. So they want to put a sign of solidarity with our Eastern Member States, who feel threatened in view of the annexation of Crimea by Russia and the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

[American Patriot]

Just a thought here.

If you maintain radio silence, you turn off your identifying transponder and you have some pre-set maneuvers to go through... would place a military operation into the realm of testing the defenses to see if they are being paid attention to.

The Russians have tried several different tactics so far over the past few weeks.

Each one is different, each area different. They are absolutely "probing" defenses during a peace time condition.

There is ZERO doubt in my mind now this is leading up to a preemptive strike of some kind by the Russians against NATO and the USA.

They have probed over the Arctic, along Alaska, around California, Oregon and Washington state. They've pushed subs into the Caribbean, along the East Coast of the US and they have brought bombers and fighter groups in over NATO countries, including Canada, and the UK now.

This is absolutely leading up to SOMETHING bigger than probes.

Putin has it in his head Obama is a wuss and he's going to come and bully him around. Obama will probably bend over and take it too.

Folks, I can't be more clear on this. GET PREPARED.

[American Patriot]

NATO Intercepts 26 Russian Planes in 24 Hours



by Oliver Lane 30 Oct 2014, 4:34 AM PDT 47 post a comment

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European air-forces faced a frantic 24-hours as they scrambled to intercept dozens of Russian aircraft flying over the North Sea, Black Sea, and Baltic in the busiest year over Europe’s skies since the end of the Cold War.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), a military alliance created to oppose the Soviet Union has flown three times more missions against Russian aircraft on the edge of it’s airspace this year than in 2013.
Now over a space of 24-hours from Tuesday this week 26 Russian planes were intercepted, flying in larger formations and closer to NATO airspace than has been considered usual in recent years. Airspace controllers were so concerned over the sudden spike in activity, RAF jets were even scrambled yesterday to intercept an errant civilian flight, forcing it to land at Stansted in Essex for inspection.
German, Danish, Swedish and Finnish fighters were scrambled on Tuesday after a flight of seven Russian military aircraft was detected flying over the Baltic, the sea which was the focus of the largest submarine hunt since the end of the Cold war last week. The multinational hunt combed the Baltic, after a submersible craft was detected lurking in the Stockholm Archipelago, but was called off last week after failing to find the target.
Remarkably, despite being escorted on Tuesday a second group of seven military craft, a mix of jet fighters and fighter-bombers were intercepted on Wednesday morning by Portuguese fighters based from NATO bases in the Baltic. A spokesman for the German military said of the NATO intercepters: “They got in contact with the Russian jets, just to do a visual check, took a picture and that is all”, reports theLocal.de.
A group of four aircraft, consisting of two Tu-95 strategic bombers and two escorting fighters were then intercepted in a separate incident over the Black sea, the traditionally hotly contested body of water between Turkey and Russia.
The largest incident yesterday was a group of eight military warplanes consisting of four more Tu-95 bombers and four supporting refuelling tankers flying over the Norwegian and North sea in the early hours of the morning. The aircraft were flying without their transponders turned on, and did not respond to radio calls and although the main body broke away and returned to Russia, one bomber and it’s support continued skirting Europe and flew as far as Portugal before flying home around the West of Ireland over the Atlantic.
The Wednesday Morning bomber flights over the North Sea, and fighter flights over the Baltic happened simultaneously, meaning there were 15 Russian aircraft being intercepted by NATO forces at once in two separate locations. A NATO spokesman called the flights "significant military manoeuvres".
The confrontations between NATO and Russian aircraft comes after months of tension over former-Soviet bloc country Ukraine, which descended into civil war over disagreements within government over the future direction of the country, towards Europe or the Commonwealth of Independent States.
After the submarine scare and a year of intense Russian flights around the Baltic, a new poll has shown support for joining NATO among citizens of non-aligned nation Sweden is at an all-time high. The charter of the organisation states that an attack on one member is an attack on all, a doctrine of mutual defence that could benefit the small Scandinavian nation if Russian aggression continues.

[American Patriot]

Merkel not acutely worried about Russian violations of airspace

BERLIN Thu Oct 30, 2014 9:03am EDT




Oct 30 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday she was not very concerned about sorties by Russian strategic bombers over the Atlantic and Black Sea and by its fighters over the Baltic which NATO said it had tracked on Wednesday.


In the last few months, there had been a lot of activity in terms of Russian army exercises, said Merkel at a news conference with Slovenia's prime minister.


"But I am not acutely worried that a bigger violation of airspace is taking place," she said.


NATO said its jets had intercepted four groups of Russian aircraft in about 24 hours since Tuesday and described it as an unusual burst of activity at a tense time in East-West relations over the Ukraine crisis.

[American Patriot]

Thomson Reuters and Agence France-PresseOctober 30, 2014 09:21

NATO says it 'remains vigilant' over Russian warplane activity in Europe airspace

NATO aircraft tracked Russian strategic bombers over the Atlantic and Black Sea on Wednesday and sorties of fighters over the Baltic.






NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg delivers a speech at an event hosted by the German Marshall Fund in Brussels, on Oct. 28, 2014. (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)







NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the transatlantic alliance remained vigilant over increased Russian military activity in European airspace.
"NATO is strong, it remains vigilant," he said during a visit to Athens.


"This strength is our answer" to what NATO has termed large-scale Russian military manoeuvres over the Baltic Sea, North Sea/Atlantic Ocean and the Black Sea earlier this week.


NATO aircraft tracked Russian strategic bombers over the Atlantic and Black Sea on Wednesday and sorties of fighters over the Baltic in what the Western alliance called an unusual burst of activity at a tense time in East-West relations.


In all, NATO said in a statement, its jets had intercepted four groups of Russian aircraft in about 24 hours since Tuesday, and some were still on maneuvers late on Wednesday afternoon.

"These sizeable Russian flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European airspace," the alliance said.


A spokesman stressed there had been no violation of NATO airspace — as there was last week when a Russian spy plane briefly crossed Estonia's border. But such high numbers of sorties in one day were, he said, rare in recent years.


In the biggest exercise, four Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bombers, a Cold War icon since the 1950s equivalent to the US B-52, flew out over the Norwegian Sea in the early hours of Wednesday, accompanied by four refueling tanker aircraft.


Norwegian F-16s were scrambled and tracked the formation, which eventually broke up, with six planes heading back toward Russia and two Tu-95s flying on south over the North Sea, where they were intercepted by British Typhoons. Portuguese F-16s later tracked them in the Atlantic before they turned for home.


A Norwegian military spokesman said: "We see Russian aircraft near our airspace on a regular basis but what was unusual is that it was a large number of aircraft and pushed further south than we normally see."


In a second incident, two Tu-95s accompanied by two fighter jets were being tracked by Turkish aircraft over the Black Sea on Wednesday afternoon, while flights of seven Russian warplanes were monitored on Tuesday and Wednesday over the Baltic Sea.


On Tuesday, German and Danish planes were involved in tracking them as well as aircraft from non-NATO states Sweden and Finland. On Wednesday, Portuguese F-16s posted in the Baltic intercepted a similar group of fighters and fighter-bombers.


NATO said it had conducted more than 100 such intercepts of Russian aircraft this year so far, about three times as many as in 2013, before the confrontation with Moscow over separatist revolts in ex-Soviet Ukraine soured relations.


http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/n...e-activity-eur

[American Patriot]

NATO personnel are stopping just short of calling this "provocation".

Military experts (including those around me) are calling this Cold War Nuclear Brinksmanship.

I'm calling it both.

NATO is going through a bunch of assjumping this morning. They are moving assets right now. Russia has made "No comment".

[American Patriot]

http://www.thelocal.de/20141029/germ...russian-planes

A German Eurofighter. Photo: DPA
German jets scrambled to face Russian planes

Published: 29 Oct 2014 15:04 GMT+01:00
Updated: 29 Oct 2014 16:27 GMT+01:00

German Eurofighters were scrambled on Tuesday to intercept seven Russian planes flying over the Baltic Sea in international airspace.

• German exports to Russia dive by a quarter (29 Oct 14)
• Kerry's challenge to Russia at Berlin Wall (22 Oct 14)
• Bundeswehr drones can't handle Ukraine winter (17 Oct 14)

The two Eurofighter jets from Germany's Luftwaffe intercepted a group of Russian planes, including fighter jets and their escort.

The German pilots spotted two MiG-31s, two Su-34s, one Su-27 and two Su-24 attack planes, Latvia's military said.

Germany's Eurofighters were scrambled from the Amari base in Estonia where they are stationed as part of a Nato mission, The Aviationist reported.

They stayed with the Russian formation for around 25 minutes after they were spotted at around 3pm.



"Nato radars detected and tracked seven Russian combat aircraft," a German military spokesman told The Local.

"They got in contact with the Russian jets, just to do a visual check, took a picture and that is all."


On Wednesday morning, two Nato F-16 jets were also scrambled to intercept five more Russian planes over the Baltic, Latvia's military said.

Nato has stepped up its forces and air defence in the Baltic in the face of Russian aggression since the Ukraine crisis.

Germany now has four Eurofighters and 160 soldiers in Estonia as part of Nato's Baltic Air Policing Unit.

In September, Russian jets violated Swedish airspace as the country continues to test Europe's air defence capabilities.

A Russian spy plane also flew into Estonian airspace last Tuesday.

[vector7]

NATO says Russian jets, bombers circle Europe in unusual incidents



MiG-31 fighter jets are not commonly seen close to Europe but some were intercepted along with other aircraft above the Baltic Sea in two separate incidents on Tuesday and Wednesday. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

By Michael Birnbaum October 29

MOSCOW — NATO said Wednesday that it had intercepted a large number of Russian aircraft flying close to European airspace in the past two days, in an “unusual” series of incidents that brought Russian bombers as far afield as Portugal.

The aircraft — at least 19 in all — offered reminders of Russian air power at a time of the worst relations between the West and Russia since the Cold War. Russian military aircraft have significantly increased their activity in Europe since the conflict in Ukraine began earlier this year, with NATO scrambling to intercept aircraft more than 100 times in 2014.

But a NATO official said the scale of the latest incidents was the most provocative this year.

Over the Atlantic Ocean and the North, Black and Baltic seas, Russian bombers, fighter jets and tanker aircraft were detected flying in international airspace, NATO said. There were no incursions into national airspace, a violation of sovereignty that would have significantly amplified the seriousness of the four incidents, three of which took place on Wednesday.

“We’re raising it as an unusual level of activity,” said Lt. Col. Jay Janzen, a spokesman for NATO’s military command in Mons, Belgium. “The flights we’ve seen in the last 24 hours, the size of those flights and some of the flight plans are definitely unusual.”

U.S. officials regard the flights as a show of force by the Putin government. “It’s concerning because it’s moving in the wrong direction,” said one U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the air activity publicly. “It’s not helping to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine. It’s not helping to improve relations between NATO and Russia. It’s not helping anybody.”


At least nineteen Russian aircraft, including fighter jets and bombers, have been intercepted in four waves over Europe yesterday and today. View Graphic

Smaller-scale incidents have also increased this year, approximately tripling from the same period in 2013, Janzen said.

In at least one of the four incidents, the aircraft had switched off their transponders and had not filed flight plans with civilian air traffic controllers. That means that civilian air traffic control cannot track them, potentially creating a risk for civilian planes.

That incident took place around 3:00 a.m. in Western Europe on Wednesday, when four Tu-95 long-range strategic nuclear bombers and four Il-78 tanker aircraft flew over the Norwegian Sea. Norwegian F-16 fighter jets scrambled to intercept them. Six of the planes returned to Russia, but two of the bombers skirted the Norwegian coast, flew past Britain — sending Typhoon fighter jets to scramble in response — and then finally looped west of Spain and Portugal, attracting Portuguese F-16s. Then the two bombers appeared to return to Russia, Janzen said.

The Tu-95 bombers are not commonly seen close to Europe, Janzen said. Nor are the MiG-31 fighter jets that were intercepted along with other aircraft above the Baltic Sea in two separate incidents Tuesday and Wednesday. It was not immediately clear whether the two incidents above the Baltic represented the same group of seven planes entering and departing a Russian military base at Kaliningrad.

There was no immediate reaction from the Russian government.

Fighter jets from Norway, Britain, Portugal, Turkey, Germany, Denmark, Finland and Sweden were involved in responding to the Russian aircraft, Janzen said. Finland and Sweden are not members of NATO, and they have long refrained from joining the defensive alliance, which was formed after World War II as a bulwark against the Soviet Union.

But military incidents with Russia this year have caused both countries to start to reevaluate their positions. Most recently, the Swedish military last week spent several days searching a vast territory for an unidentified underwater craft suspected to be Russian. Last month, Sweden said two Russian military planes had violated its airspace.

A Novus opinion poll released Tuesday found for the first time that more Swedes favored joining NATO than opposed it.

The most recent violation of NATO airspace was last week, when a Russian spy plane flew almost 2,000 feet into Estonian airspace. This year, NATO increased its air patrols based in the Baltics from four to 16 jets, a measure of the newly hot confrontation between the two military juggernauts.

The incidents appear to have set European militaries on edge this week. British fighter jets were scrambled Wednesday to bring a civilian Antonov cargo jet into a London airport; it stopped responding to radio calls from air traffic controllers while flying over the British capital. That caused a supersonic boom that was audible across a large stretch of southeastern England.

Missy Ryan contributed to this report.

[Avvakum]

Merkel not acutely worried about Russian violations of airspace

BERLIN Thu Oct 30, 2014 9:03am EDT




Oct 30 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday she was not very concerned about sorties by Russian strategic bombers over the Atlantic and Black Sea and by its fighters over the Baltic which NATO said it had tracked on Wednesday.


In the last few months, there had been a lot of activity in terms of Russian army exercises, said Merkel at a news conference with Slovenia's prime minister.


"But I am not acutely worried that a bigger violation of airspace is taking place," she said.


NATO said its jets had intercepted four groups of Russian aircraft in about 24 hours since Tuesday and described it as an unusual burst of activity at a tense time in East-West relations over the Ukraine crisis.

Those of us who have paid attention to Angela Merkel's career over the years have no doubt as to why Merkel is not concerned over these probes of NATO air defences, considering where she comes from.

[Brykovian]

Russia simulated an attack on Denmark
Link: http://www.thelocal.dk/20141031/russ...ack-on-denmark

The Danish Defence Intelligence Service has released its new long-term risk assessment which reveals that Russia carried out a "a more offensive" military exercise aimed at a heavily-populated target.

Russia carried out a simulated attack on the Danish island of Bornholm over the summer at the precise time that the island was occupied by countless politicians and journalists for the annual political meeting Folkemødet.

The revelation was made by the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste - DDIS) in its national risk assessment released on Thursday.

According to DDIS, Russian military jets equipped with live missiles flew at a low altitude toward Bornholm before breaking off the route and turning back around.

The military exercise took place in June at the same time that around 90,000 guests visited the island for Folkemødet, a ‘political festival’ that gathers politicians, journalists, activists and over 600 different organisations for four days of events.

DDIS did not release concrete details about the simulated attack but characterised it as the largest Russian military exercise over the Baltic Sea since 1991 and “of a more offensive character than observed in recent years�.

DDI’s Risk Assessment 2014, which can be read in its entirety using the link below, strongly focuses on Russia and the Ukraine crisis, predicting that “over the next few years, the situation in eastern Ukraine will highly likely turn into a new frozen European conflict, and the Ukraine crisis will continue to strain relations between Russia and the West.�

“Russia will continue to give high priority to the modernization of its armed forces with the emphasis on developing forces capable of conducting offensive operations along Russia’s periphery,� the report continues.

Denmark, Sweden and Germany have all scrambled military jets in recent days to face Russian planes and Sweden spent a week searching in vain for what was believed to be a Russian submarine near Stockholm.

DDIS stressed however that it does not anticipate a looming military conflict with Russia.

“Even though Russia has increased its military activities in Denmark’s vicinity and Russian aircraft have occasionally flown offensive flight patterns in Denmark’s vicinity, there are no indications that Russia constitutes an increased direct military threat to Danish territory,� the report reads.

[Avvakum]

Russia simulated an attack on Denmark
Link: http://www.thelocal.dk/20141031/russ...ack-on-denmark

The Danish Defence Intelligence Service has released its new long-term risk assessment which reveals that Russia carried out a "a more offensive" military exercise aimed at a heavily-populated target.

Russia carried out a simulated attack on the Danish island of Bornholm over the summer at the precise time that the island was occupied by countless politicians and journalists for the annual political meeting Folkemødet.

The revelation was made by the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste - DDIS) in its national risk assessment released on Thursday.

According to DDIS, Russian military jets equipped with live missiles flew at a low altitude toward Bornholm before breaking off the route and turning back around.

The military exercise took place in June at the same time that around 90,000 guests visited the island for Folkemødet, a ‘political festival’ that gathers politicians, journalists, activists and over 600 different organisations for four days of events.

DDIS did not release concrete details about the simulated attack but characterised it as the largest Russian military exercise over the Baltic Sea since 1991 and “of a more offensive character than observed in recent years”.

DDI’s Risk Assessment 2014, which can be read in its entirety using the link below, strongly focuses on Russia and the Ukraine crisis, predicting that “over the next few years, the situation in eastern Ukraine will highly likely turn into a new frozen European conflict, and the Ukraine crisis will continue to strain relations between Russia and the West.”

“Russia will continue to give high priority to the modernization of its armed forces with the emphasis on developing forces capable of conducting offensive operations along Russia’s periphery,” the report continues.

Denmark, Sweden and Germany have all scrambled military jets in recent days to face Russian planes and Sweden spent a week searching in vain for what was believed to be a Russian submarine near Stockholm.

DDIS stressed however that it does not anticipate a looming military conflict with Russia.

“Even though Russia has increased its military activities in Denmark’s vicinity and Russian aircraft have occasionally flown offensive flight patterns in Denmark’s vicinity, there are no indications that Russia constitutes an increased direct military threat to Danish territory,” the report reads.

Blind, blind as can be and have more than a room-temperature IQ.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia simulated an attack on Denmark
Link: http://www.thelocal.dk/20141031/russ...ack-on-denmark

Wow...

That's big news. Thanks for posting that Bryk! Going to post that to the front page of the site.

[American Patriot]

I guess this actually sets in concrete the Russian mindset now doesn't it?

No more Mr. Nice Guy for them.

A "populated area" of roughly 40,000 people. Very, very interesting and more important telling.

That island stands in the middle of the Baltic Sea and would be considered a jumping off point for the Russians to anywhere in Northern Europe.

[Brykovian]

The sentence that stood out to me was ...

The military exercise took place in June at the same time that around 90,000 guests visited the island for Folkemødet, a ‘political festival’ that gathers politicians, journalists, activists and over 600 different organisations for four days of events.

Was this a "nice political gathering you have there; shame if something would happen to it" type of message? Or was it a mere coincidence?

-Bryk

[American Patriot]

The Russians have a penchant for grabbing and executing people that oppose them.

What better time than during a political function where, in most countries, there are few security cops with guns, no military and so forth.

It would be a bit more difficult here in the US, but not that much.

Consider a gathering at the Republican or Democratic conventions for example. Thousands and thousands of politicians there. A lot of security, but FEW guns allowed.

Think about that.

Surround an area with a military - or threaten to bomb the begezus out of them to get what you want - and viola, you've got a lot of sheep you're in charge of.