Russia is reasserting its presence in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.
Long-range bombers will be conducting regular patrol missions over the two bodies of water as well as the Arctic Ocean, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.
Russia’s show of strength is presumed to be related to tensions with the West surrounding Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
In late October, NATO officials said Russia was testing their air defenses to an unusual degree. At the time, NATO said it had conducted more than 100 intercepts of Russian military aircraft since the beginning of the year, about three times as many as were conducted in 2013.
Less than 10 days ago, NATO supreme allied commander in Europe, Gen. Philip Breedlove, said the Russians are running the tests to send a “message” to the West. “They’re messaging us, you know, that they are a great power and that they have the ability to exert these kinds of influences in our thinking,” Breedlove said.
The flights will continue, Shoigu said, because “the current situation” requires a Russian presence.
The increase in flights also come after NATO’s chief commander accused Russia of sending troops and tanks into Ukraine — a claim quickly denied by Moscow.
Ian Kearns, director of the European Leadership Network, a London-based think tank, told the AP that the Russian military is using the patrols to be “more visible and more assertive in its actions.”
“The more instances you have of NATO and Russian forces coming close together,” he said, “the more chance there is of having something bad happening, even if it’s not intentional.”
