Russian bombers met by NATO fighter jets over the Barents Sea

A pair of Tu-160 strategic bombers showed muscles outside Norwegian air space and in the European Arctic on Tuesday. Newly deployed naval aviation fighter jets at Novaya Zemlya escorted the aircraft for part of the route. The flight, which lasted for 12 hours, took place over Russia and the Barents-, Norwegian- and Greenland Seas, the Defense Ministry in Moscow informs. Russia’s strategic bombers are based at Engels Air Force Base near Saratov in southwestern Russia and have to fly north for exit to international air space without violating other nations borders. The strategic bombers flew out to the Barents Sea from…