Russian Defense Minister Says The Intensity Of US Bombers And NATO Warships Increases At The Border

Illustration of Russian fighter jets with British fighter jets. (Wikimedia Commons/RAF/MOD)

JAKARTA - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the United States (US) was increasing the intensity of its military activities in Europe. At the same time, NATO is also said to be increasing its intensity in the west of Russia's border areas.

Minister Shoigu said NATO was increasing the intensity of its aircraft flights in the strategic area, on the western side of the border with Russia.

In addition, continued Shoigu, warships with cruise missiles have also systematically entered the Baltic Sea area, followed by an increase in the number of military exercises in the region.

"The situation in the strategic western region is characterized by increasing military threats. US strategic bombers have increased the intensity of their flights over Europe 14 times in the last seven years", Shoigu said at a ministry council meeting.

Most recently, Russia sent SU-27 fighter jets to accompany the United States' B-52H bombers over the Baltic Sea Monday, May 31 local time, although they did not violate Russian airspace, as reported by Reuters from the Russian news agency.

As for NATO warships, Shoigu said there was an increase in the intensity and number of NATO warships equipped with missiles in the Baltic Sea region.

"This class of warships undertook duty near the Kaliningrad Region three times last year alone. Overall, data recording equipment has registered 18 deployments by battleships to areas designated for cruise missile launches since 2016", Shoigu said.

Simultaneously, Uncle Sam's Country Shoigu and NATO continue to expand the scope of operational and combat training near the Russian border.

“The number of exercises has increased 50 percent in recent years. Currently, the 'Defender Europe 2021' exercise, the largest exercise in 30 years, is underway, involving up to 40.000 personnel. Their main goal is to practice transferring divisional troops from the United States to Europe".

In response to this, Russia is preparing to form 20 new military units in the western region of Russia, which borders a number of European countries.

"The actions of our Western counterparts undermined the world's security systems and forced us to take appropriate action in response. We are continuously improving the combat structure of the forces. About 20 military formations and units will be established in the Western Military District by the end of this year", Shoigu said.