A new Cuban missile crisis? Russia eyes bomber bases in Latin America
It could be bluffing or it might be payback – Russia says it's 'ready to fly' bombers to Venezuela and Cuba.
By Fred Weir | 03.15.09
MOSCOW – A top Russian military official has confirmed that the Kremlin is thinking of parking some of its strategic bombers in Cuba or Venezuela, within easy range of the continental United States.
That’s just one of several options currently under discussion in Moscow that, if carried out, would see Russia’s armed forces take up positions around the world on a scale unseen since the cold war ended almost two decades ago.
Venezuelan President Hugo “Chavez has proposed to us a whole island with an airfield that we can use for temporary basing of strategic bombers,” Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, chief of Russia’s strategic aviation forces, told journalists on Saturday.
“There are four or five airfields in Cuba with 4,000-meter-long runways, which absolutely suit us,” he added. “If the two chiefs of state display such a political will, we are ready to fly there.”
In late 2007 Russia resumed its cold war-era bomber patrols along the North American coast, using lumbering 1950s-vintage turboprop Tu-95 Bear bombers as well as a few needle-nosed supersonic Tu-160s, which were introduced in the 1980s.
But Russian generals complain that in the absence of refueling and maintenance facilities in the western hemisphere, the planes are able to remain as little as half an hour on station before beginning the long flight back to their bases in Russia.
As the Monitor reported recently (see story here), two Tu-160s visited Venezuela last September as part of joint war games that included a large flotilla of Russian warships and a visit to the region by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Last week, the two Georgian breakaway statelets of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, whose de facto independence was established by Russian military intervention against Georgia last summer, offered long-term leases for the construction of Russian military bases on their territory. South Ossetia has offered basing rights to Moscow for 99 years, while Akhazia says it is ready to lease facilities for 49 years. Russian media reports suggest those bases, housing thousands of troops and naval facilities on the Black Sea, are likely to be completed by year`s end.
The two statelets’ self-declared independence has been recognized only by Russia and Nicaragua, while Georgia, with the support of most Western countries, insists that it has full sovereignty over the territories under international law.
“Russian troops are the only factor supporting the independence of South Ossetia, which is why they should stay there for a long time,” Alexander Khramchikhin, an expert at the independent Institute for Military and Political Analysis, told the Moscow daily Novye Izvestia last week.
And Moscow has recently been in talks with former Soviet allies about re-establishing cold war-era naval bases at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam and Tartus in Syria (see the Monitor’s recent story here) as well as taking steps to beef up its own regional security alliance with several countries of the ex-USSR.
But some experts suggest that the noises coming out of Moscow about basing nuclear bombers in Cuba or Venezuela could be just a propaganda gimmick in advance of forthcoming US-Russian negotiations for a new strategic accord (story on treaty discussions here).
“Talking about building Russian bases near the US is a good way to get Washington’s attention, and drive home the point that this is exactly what they’ve been doing to us for years,” says Irina Zvigelskaya, an expert with the independent Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Moscow.
She says that Moscow still has an institutional memory of the stinging diplomatic defeat suffered by the USSR in 1962, after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev deployed medium-range nuclear missiles in Cuba, and no one in the Kremlin today is likely to repeat that mistake. But for Moscow, she adds, US intentions to station strategic anti-missile weapons near Russia’s borders and the continuing Washington-backed drive to include Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, are seen as similar encroachments on Russia’s strategic comfort zone.
“We are hopefully going to see some rethinking of the US-Russian relationship, and so we are positioning our arguments. The talk of basing Russian bombers in Cuba is more of a bargaining ploy than a real plan,” Ms. Zvigelskaya says.
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2. Jacob | 03.15.09
This move can only be targeted against one thing: the American public. Anyone who knows anything about military tactics would know that Tu-95’s and Tu-160’s, especially in such small numbers, stand no chance of penetrating American airspace. Our own B-52’s would have had a difficult enough time attacking the Soviet Union if the Cold War had turned hot; for such a small and obsolete bomber force in Cuba to pose a threat to the U.S. is ludicrous. However if the average American is led to believe that the bombers pose a credible threat, then this move by the Russian military achieves its goal of inspiring panic and perhaps even a political overreaction in the U.S.
3. Alan Pomeroy | 03.15.09
the Rusians have never been an agressive Country unless they were threatened and if my own personel view could be recognized by our Government and our Allies to stay out of thier bussiness and not encourage thier Satelite Counries to rebel against them,I do believe we could all benefit from this Neutrality.
4. Corey | 03.15.09
I think We Should take away there nuclear weapons as soon as possible ,just like we would any other terrorist organisation
5. from kerch | 03.16.09
“defeat suffered by the USSR in 1962, after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev deployed medium-range nuclear missiles in Cuba” - However, because the withdrawals from Turkey were not made public at the time, Khrushchev appeared to have lost the conflict and become weakened. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis)
6. Russ | 03.16.09
THE US Gov. has too long ignored Central and south America.US should encourage democratic gov. in this hemisphere instead we send troops to mideast,etc. Cuba is a good example of our Gov. poor judgement.
7. G thomas | 03.16.09
Seems like Obama’s “I will just talk to them” diplomacy is not exactly working the way he thought it would. The Russians will probe with steel, and if they encounter mush they will keep going. The only thing that will cause them pause is more steel.
8. aaprime | 03.16.09
It requires no real mathematical ability to calculate fly times from Venezuela to Washington DC at supersonic speeds. TU-160s should NEVER be allowed to be stationed ANYWHERE in the Americas. Allowing Russia to place strategic bombers in South America would represent a significant retreat from the Monroe Doctrine. I don’t think it is wise for the Obama administration to send an historic message of compromise to Russia with “love”.
9. DAVID | 03.17.09
THE RUSIANS DON’T CARE ABOUT WAR THEY ARE AFRAID THE USA MIGHT CALAPS, AND THEY WANT TO STABILIZE NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA.SEE WHEN PEOPLE CAN’T PAY THERE BILLS THEY LOSS EVERY THING, BUT WHAT IF THE USA DON’T PAY BACK THERE DEBT TO CHINA. WE COULD HAVE CIVAL UNREST.
10. Stevo (Aus) | 03.17.09
aaprime……
But it is ok for US to seek world hedgeomny, to place offensive weapons closer and closer to the the Russian state, to push into their sphere of economic and political influence, to threaten any member of the world with nuclear anhialation, to kill thousands of people who “threaten US national interest” at will? How many people died today due to US action throughout the world? It is OK for the US to spend billions of dollars developing new and improved weapons of mass destruction (isn’t the US a member of the NPT with a mandatde to work towards the elinimation of nukes?), while half the worl starves to death, to back dictatorships, on lauch wars of aggression for financial benifit. Have a look at what your (and mine for that matter) goverments really get up to on a day to day basis!
The US are the ones to be affraid of!!!
11. matt | 03.18.09
To aaprime- the monroe doctrine was us policy not a treaty, made to protect the us “hedgemony” in the late 1800s
12. Correcting Mistakes | 03.19.09
A few things:
Some people here have claimed that Russia is neutral.
Russia has never been neutral. They have a history of invading their neighbors. Please recall the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. Please recall the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Please recall the invasion of Georgia in 2008.
Regarding Cuban Missile Crisis
There was an inaccurate statement about who won the Cuban Missile Crisis pertaining to US withdrawl of missiles from Turkey.
In actuality, the US did withdraw obsolete Titan missiles from Turkey. The beauty of Kennedy’s negotiation was that these missiles were to be decommissioned anyway and replaced with longer range ICBMs.
13. Miguel Vargas-Caba | 03.22.09
Let’s not forget that in 1956 the USSR invaded Hungary, and again in 1968 they invaded Czechoslovakia. On the other hand, a TU-95 stationed in either Cuba or Venezuela would have enough range (13,500 kms.) and staying power (20+ hours) to be able to launch cruise missiles to a target anywhere in the Americas without even having to enter US airspace.
14. Kirk Nelson | 03.23.09
While some nonsence military operations are in function, there is a re-thinking process by mediocre Cubans and Russians officers to conquest the world, but while their waste of money and energy keeps on, their rural and urban citizens are begging for drinkcable water, better distribution of power electricity, and adequate quality of housing.
Cuba and Russia are countries with high level of mental suffering mostly due to daily poverty function.
Regular Cuban citizens are far from reaching and operating a computer. Regular Cubans are not allowed to step their feet on thier own beaches. Most Cubans drive American cars, but automiviles from the early 50’s.
Russians flee their country in the very first opportunity that landed on their hands. Opion is an afforable passtime, because Russia is number one consumer in the world of this illicit drugs. Russians are not free citizens, because their new journal ideas and education operations are in constant vigilance by the secret police.
No country in the world, I repeat, no country in the world will dominate other countries. Currently, there is not a single country in the world that wants to experiment Russian nor Cuban’s social, political and economic systems.
The world does not want another world war. The war should be against child labor, prostitution, drug trafficating. The world war should be to combat public and private corruption and the implementation of new jobs, and equal law to all citizens.
Yes, war to eliminate racial descrimination, to treat with respect and dignity to all people regardles their financial and education status.
Kirk Nelson,Pres.
wesolutions.org
New York, NY USA
15. Julia from great, prosperous Russia | 05.07.09
Hello, stranger people. Do you want to make an attempt on a mouth? (Russian humour). So, our dear country is proud of that we have a conscience which is expressed in frankness. Your country, America, on my opinion to opinion, the slyest and prudent. Why in any comment in which a situation came into a question with Georgia there was not mention that on confession of Saakashvili, he was dependency upon Bush, your president, though and former. That does your president climb in the conflict of other countries? And why you reprobate Russia for intruding in the countries of the former USSR, in Ossetia our people and half of territory is on countries, that we did. And similarly in this conflict of prisutsvuet human factor, it only your president and your country can remain indifferent to death and torments of other people, and our Russian people it is not, he helps all of that, who needs a help and enables to live. I hope on your TV show those unhappy people which suffer though and indirect, but from your former president Bush. Russians are proud of the country. We are great nation!)
I am sorry for my nasty English.
16. Innocent | 10.05.09
The way people wish, it suggests that a Nuclear war is inevitable, finally human beings will get what they want.
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1. JL | 03.15.09
What Russia is doing in South Ossetia is exactly what the West has done in Kosovo. So…