MOSCOW, March 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russian strategic aviation has successfully completed five-day tactical exercises practicing interoperability with air force and air defense units, the Air Force commander said Monday.

"During the five-day exercises the crews of the strategic aviation have practiced interoperability with units of three air force and air defense commands," Army General Vladimir Mikhailov said.

Bomber and fighter crews rehearsed penetration of air defenses, specifics of flights in the extreme North and in-flight refueling, the general said.

Russia, which has been anxious about NATO bases that have appeared in former Communist-bloc countries and ex-Soviet republics, has also blasted the U.S. plans to deploy anti-missile systems in central Europe as a national security threat and a destabilizing factor for the region.

Commander of the 37th Air Army Lieutenant General Igor Khvorov, who supervised the exercises, said on March 5 that Russia's strategic aviation has sufficient potential to suppress elements of a U.S. missile defense shield should it be deployed in central Europe.

"Missile shield elements, which are located in silos, are very vulnerable and have weak defenses," Khvorov said. "Therefore, all aircraft deployed by [Russian] strategic aviation can either apply electronic counter-measures against them or physically destroy them."