Russia sends bombers on patrol over Belarus

MOSCOW: Russia sent two nuclear-capable strategic bombers on a training mission over Belarus for a second straight day on Thursday in a strong show of Moscow’s support for its ally amid a dispute over migration at the Polish border.

The Belarusian Defence Ministry said two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers practiced bombing runs at the Ruzany firing range, located in Belarus about 60-km east of the border with Poland. As part of the joint training, Belarusian fighter jets simulated an intercept, the ministry said.

The missions marked the second time in two days that Russia sent its nuclear-capable bombers into the skies over Belarus. A pair of Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bombers flew a similar patrol on Wednesday, and Belarusian air defense assets practiced intercepting them.

The Belarusian Defence Ministry said that such Russian bomber flights will be conducted on a regular basis. The Russian military said the bombers spent over 4 1/2 hours in the air during the mission intended to buttress the countries’ alliance. It noted that the bomber patrol “wasn’t aimed against any third countries.”

Russia has strongly supported Belarus amid a tense standoff this week as thousands of migrants and refugees, most of them from the Middle East, gathered on the Belarusian side of the border with Poland in the hope of crossing into Western Europe.

The European Union has accused Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko of encouraging illegal border crossings as a “hybrid attack” to retaliate against EU sanctions on his government for its crackdown on internal dissent after Lukashenko’s disputed 2020 reelection. Belarus denies the allegations but has said it will no longer stop refugees and migrants from trying to enter the EU.

The Belarusian Defence Ministry accused Poland on Thursday of an “unprecedented” military buildup on the border, saying that migration control did not warrant the concentration of 15,000 troops backed by tanks, air defense assets and other weapons.