US
President Barack Obama (R) speaks as Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on
after their bilateral meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico on June 18, 2012 on the
sidelines of the G20 summit. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
NBC
News has confirmed with U.S. military officials that two Russian Bear bombers
were circling the U.S. territory of Guam last week at roughly the same time
President Obama delivered his State of the Union address. The planes were
capable of carrying nuclear cruise missiles, the report adds, and while they
stayed in international airspace, the United States scrambled F-15 jets from
the Andersen Air Force Base to intercept them.
The
exchange “stayed professional,” one source said, despite the unusual encounter.
“It
wasn’t provocative but it certainly got our attention,” another source
elaborated.
The
Washington Free Beacon, which broke the story, notes that this isn’t the first
time that Russian jets have been caught poking around U.S. territories. Over
the summer, they were caught simulating attacks on on “enemy” air defenses and
strategic facilities near Alaska.
The
U.S. has stated its hope of “pressing the reset button” with Russia, and
President Obama signed a strategic arms reduction treaty with Russian President
Medvedev in February 2011.
The
Washington Free Beacon has more on how experts are weighing in:
John
Bolton, former U.N. ambassador and former State Department international
security undersecretary, said the Russian bomber flights appear to be part of
an increasingly threatening strategic posture in response to Obama
administration anti-nuclear policies.
“Every
day brings new evidence that Obama’s ideological obsession with dismantling our
nuclear deterrent is dangerous,” Bolton said. “Our national security is in
danger of slipping off the national agenda even as the threats grow.”
Defense
officials said the bombers tracked over Guam were likely equipped with six
Kh-55 or Kh-55SM cruise missiles that can hit targets up to 1,800 miles away
with either a high-explosive warhead or a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead.
[...]
Defense
officials disclosed the incident to the Free Beacon and said the Russian bomber
flights appeared to be a strategic message from Moscow timed to the president’s
state of the union speech.
“They
were sending a message to Washington during the state of the union speech,” one
official said. [Emphasis added]
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