MOSCOW - A Russian Air Force chief said Saturday that strategic Russian bombers could be placed on the United States‘ doorstep - in Cuba or on an island offered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
The comments reported by the Interfax news agency came from the chief of staff of Russia’s long-range aviation, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev.
The Kremlin quickly said the situation was hypothetical.
“The military is speaking about technical possibilities, that’s all,” Alexei Pavlov, a Kremlin official, told The Associated Press.
Zhikharev said Chavez had offered “a whole island with an airdrome, which we can use as a temporary base for strategic bombers,” the agency reported.
He also said that Cuba has air bases with four or five runways long enough for the huge bombers and could be used to host the long-range planes.
Cuba has never permanently hosted Russian or Soviet strategic aircraft, but Soviet short-range bombers often made stopovers there during the Cold War.
Independent military analyst Alexander Golts said such a move made no strategic sense.
“The bombers don’t need any base. This is just a retaliatory gesture,” Golts said, saying Russia wanted to hit back after U.S. ships patrolled Black Sea waters.
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