Russian bomber pilots have resurrected an old Cold War tradition, flying long-haul missions over areas patrolled by Nato and the United States in a pointed move to patrol its perimeter. Last month, Tu-95 bombers briefly breached British airspace. And this week, two bombers flew over a US naval base on the Pacific island of Guam, “exchanging smiles” with US pilots who were scrambled to intercept them. Those smiles mask Russia’s increasingly frosty relationship with the West of late.
Moscow has been jumpy ever since the US announced plans to erect a missile defence shield in eastern Europe to deal with the threat of nuclear attack from the Middle East. As President Vladimir Putin sees it, the move is the first step in a large-scale US programme to position a military force under Russia’s nose, says Isabel Gorst in the FT. The success of the “coloured revolutions” in neighbouring Georgia and Ukraine has convinced Putin that the Americans intend to surround and isolate Russia. In a barrage of tense Cold War-style exchanges, the Russian premier has warned that the installations could risk turning Europe into a “powder keg” as each superpower trains its nuclear missiles on the other.
To back up the rhetoric, Russia has been taking increasingly bold measures to mark its territory. A Russian aircraft last week seemingly dropped a missile (which did not go off) on Georgian territory, while submarines were sent to plant a flag under the North Pole in a bid to stake its claim to the region. Meanwhile, the picture from Russia’s interior seems to reflect growing insecurity. Reports of dissidents sent to mental hospitals, the brutal suppression of protests and the emergence of a nationalistic youth movement celebrating the “Putin Generation” seems to reflect a return towards a more Soviet style of governorship, says William Pfaff in the International Herald Tribune.
“Many argue that Mr Putin acts the way he does out of weakness rather than strength,” says Raymond Whitaker in The Independent. But with such vast energy reserves and the high price of oil, he can afford to throw his weight around a little longer. Despite the optimism that has grown up around US and Euro-Russian relations in recent years, these Cold War games of “cat and mouse” are likely to continue for some time to come.