Vladimir Putin was seen boarding a nuclear-capable bomber in a new clip in what will likely be interpreted as a reminder to the West of Russia’s nuclear weaponry.
The despot could be seen clambering into a modernised Tu-160M strategic bomber and taken on a route that has been described as a “military secret” by Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The giant swing-wing plane has been codenamed “Blackjacks” by NATO.
It is a modernised version of a Cold War-era bomber, which would have been used by the Soviet Union to send nukes into long-distance targets had the soaring tensions finally boiled over. Upon exiting the craft after its flight, Putin told reporters: “It’s a new machine, a lot about it is new. It’s easier to control. It’s reliable.”
The video of the flight comes just days after a fresh wave of Western sanctions were launched against Russia following the death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
While the Kremlin denies it, the death of Putin’s main political opponent is widely considered to have been carried out at the orders of the dictator himself.
The flight with Putin aboard had lasted 30 minutes, Russian news agencies reported. Russian state TV showed the huge aircraft – nicknamed “White Swans” by Russia – taking off and landing at a runway belonging to the factory in Kazan, where the bomber is built.
The craft can carry 12 cruise missiles or 12 short-range nuclear missiles and can fly 12,000 km (7,500 miles) non—stop without refuelling.
“The equipment is excellent. It is, indeed, of a new generation,” Putin told reporters afterwards. “As I told the commander of the ship, now I will tell the leadership of the Ministry of Defense again: of course, it can be accepted into the armed forces.”
It comes after Putin’s lackey Dmitry Medvedev warned that Putin could bomb London, Washington, Berlin and Kyiv, and accused Western leaders of not taking the threat seriously.
“Sad as it may sound, this [nuclear war] scenario is real,” he said. “We must do everything we can to prevent it from happening. But this very clock, which is ticking in a certain direction, has now accelerated very much.
“And in this I also see the inability, excuse me, the impotence of these Western authorities.
“[They] keep saying the same thing: ‘No, it’s the Russians who are scaring us, they will never do it’. They’re wrong.”
Putin himself however has sought somewhat to downplay the possibility of a Russian nuclear strike in his own statements. He said in October that the existence of the Russian state was not under threat and that “no person of sound mind and clear memory would think of using nuclear weapons against Russia”.
Russia’s nuclear doctrine states that a sitting president can use nuclear weapons broadly as a response to an attack using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, or to the use of conventional weapons against Russia “when the very existence of the state is put under threat”.
