Russia sends nuclear-capable bombers on patrol over Belarus

Russia sent two nuclear-capable strategic bombers on a training mission over Belarus for a second straight day on Nov. 11 in a strong show of Moscow's support for its ally amid a dispute over migration at the Polish border.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers practiced bombing runs at the Ruzany firing range, located in Belarus about 60 kilometers (just over 37 miles) 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 Defense 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 said the bomber patrol "wasn't aimed against any third countries."
But Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that "it is a response to a massive build-up on the Polish-Belarusian border

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.
Polyansky pointed to the union between Russia and Belarus and said that "if there is a build-up of military resources on the border with Belarus, we have to react."

The European Union has...