Russia is sending naval aviators to the Crimean peninsula. Traveling 1,650 miles from their Murmansk-area home bases in the bitterly cold Russian far north, the aircrews will train on newly developed aircraft carrier simulation facilities.

Belonging to the 279th Separate Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment, these fighter-bomber jets will soon be joined by another naval air regiment. Their arrival shouldn’t be viewed in a purely tactical-training context.