President Putin dresses up to play war games
Russian President Vladimir Putin sits inside the Tupolev-160 strategic bomber jet at the Moscow's Chkalovsky military airport (AFP)
President Vladimir Putin donned navy uniform to watch a missile launch at sea yesterday, hours after dressing as a pilot and flying in a supersonic bomber.
"I think a man in my position must know how it all happens," the president said after a five-hour flight on a giant TU160 strategic bomber to test-fire a cruise missile over northern Russia.
Then, Putin, flanked by Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, stood on board of the Pyotr Veliky cruiser to watch the Sineva missile blast out of the water and vanish into the gray sky after being launched by the submerged nuclear submarine Yekaterinburg near the Kola Peninsula.
It hit a target 5,000 miles away in Russia's far east, helping to offset the failed missile launches when he attended his country's largest naval exercises in two decades last year.
The former KGB spy is a regular guest at lavish demonstrations of his country's military might. As well as a missile launch, yesterday's flight involved mid-air refuelling and a low-level pass just 200 yards above the sea's surface at 560mph.
Putin said he was pleased with the result of the exercise, in which a group of Northern Fleet ships and submarines were to prevent another group from deploying into the open sea and simulating the launch of nuclear missiles.
"Everyone probably remembers the failed launch last year," Putin said at a news conference on the Pyotr Veliky. "Now, all of the shortcomings have been corrected."
After leaving an Arctic air base to join this week's war games , Mr Putin, 52, played down his simulated bombing raid.
"I think that's how people feel when they fly in their dreams at night," he said of the experience.
His visibility at exercises featuring nuclear test launches underscores his commitment to modernizing Russia's strategic forces.
俄總統(tǒng)普京戎裝上陣體驗遠(yuǎn)程轟炸和導(dǎo)彈發(fā)射
普京乘坐龐大的圖-160戰(zhàn)略轟炸機(jī)在俄羅斯北部地區(qū)試射了一枚巡航導(dǎo)彈,整個飛行過程歷時5小時。之后,普京說:“我想,作為俄羅斯總統(tǒng),我必須了解整個過程。”
在俄羅斯國防部長謝爾蓋· 伊萬諾夫的護(hù)衛(wèi)下,普京接著登上了“彼得大帝”號巡洋艦,觀看位于科拉半島附近的俄羅斯葉卡捷琳堡核潛艇發(fā)射導(dǎo)彈,導(dǎo)彈沖出水面,消失在灰色的天空中。
導(dǎo)彈射中了一個遠(yuǎn)在5000英里以外的、位于俄羅斯遠(yuǎn)東地區(qū)的目標(biāo),彌補(bǔ)了去年普京在參加俄羅斯二十年來最大規(guī)模的一次軍事演習(xí)時,導(dǎo)彈沒有射中目標(biāo)的遺憾。
這位曾經(jīng)在前蘇聯(lián)時期為克格勃效力的現(xiàn)任總統(tǒng)是俄羅斯大規(guī)模軍事演習(xí)的常客。除了導(dǎo)彈發(fā)射,昨天普京總統(tǒng)還參加了空中加油、超低空飛行等軍事演習(xí),飛機(jī)曾經(jīng)以560英里每小時的速度在高出海平面僅200米的地方飛過。
普京說他對這次演習(xí)的結(jié)果很滿意。在這次演習(xí)中,由俄羅斯北方艦隊水面艦艇和潛艇組成的一個編隊成功地阻止了部署在公海的另一個編隊模擬發(fā)射核彈。
“也許大家都還記得去年我們曾發(fā)射失敗過?,F(xiàn)在,所有的不足都已經(jīng)得到了彌補(bǔ)。”普京在“彼得大帝”號巡洋艦上舉行的新聞發(fā)布會上說。
參加本周進(jìn)行的軍事演習(xí)前,普京總統(tǒng)曾經(jīng)在位于北極圈內(nèi)的空軍基地過夜。飛離基地后,現(xiàn)年52歲的普京總統(tǒng)讓自己的這次模擬導(dǎo)彈襲擊盡量低調(diào)。
“我想這次飛行就像大家晚上在夢中飛行的感覺一樣。”
從普京親自視察以核彈試驗發(fā)射為主的軍事演習(xí)可以看出他對實現(xiàn)俄羅斯戰(zhàn)略力量現(xiàn)代化的重視。