Russian strategic bombers continue patrol flights - Air Force

MOSCOW, March 13 (RIA Novosti) - Four Russian strategic bombers flew on Thursday routine patrol missions over the Atlantic Ocean and the Black Sea that lasted over 10 hours, an Air Force spokesman said.

"Two Tu-95 Bear and two Tu-22 Blinder bombers conducted routine [patrol] flights over the Atlantic Ocean and the Black Sea," Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky said. "During patrols, they were not accompanied by NATO fighters."

Russia resumed strategic bomber patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans last August, following an order signed by President Vladimir Putin. The move is widely seen by the West as a sign of Russia's increasingly aggressive military stance.

Russian bombers have since carried out over 70 strategic patrol flights.

Drobyshevsky said that all flights by Russian aircraft were performed by skilled pilots in strict compliance with international laws on the use of air space over neutral waters, without violating the borders of other states.