President Putin dresses up to play war games

Russian President Vladimir Putin sits inside the Tupolev-160 strategic bomber jet at the Moscow's Chkalovsky military airport (AFP)

President Vladimir Putin donned navy uniform to watch a missile launch at sea yesterday, hours after dressing as a pilot and flying in a supersonic bomber.

"I think a man in my position must know how it all happens," the president said after a five-hour flight on a giant TU160 strategic bomber to test-fire a cruise missile over northern Russia.

Then, Putin, flanked by Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, stood on board of the Pyotr Veliky cruiser to watch the Sineva missile blast out of the water and vanish into the gray sky after being launched by the submerged nuclear submarine Yekaterinburg near the Kola Peninsula.

It hit a target 5,000 miles away in Russia's far east, helping to offset the failed missile launches when he attended his country's largest naval exercises in two decades last year.

The former KGB spy is a regular guest at lavish demonstrations of his country's military might. As well as a missile launch, yesterday's flight involved mid-air refuelling and a low-level pass just 200 yards above the sea's surface at 560mph.

Putin said he was pleased with the result of the exercise, in which a group of Northern Fleet ships and submarines were to prevent another group from deploying into the open sea and simulating the launch of nuclear missiles.

"Everyone probably remembers the failed launch last year," Putin said at a news conference on the Pyotr Veliky. "Now, all of the shortcomings have been corrected."

After leaving an Arctic air base to join this week's war games , Mr Putin, 52, played down his simulated bombing raid.

"I think that's how people feel when they fly in their dreams at night," he said of the experience.

His visibility at exercises featuring nuclear test launches underscores his commitment to modernizing Russia's strategic forces. 
 

　

昨天（8月17日），俄罗斯总统普京先客串了一把“飞行员”，乘坐超音速轰炸机发射导弹。结束飞行几小时后，他又穿上一身海军制服在海上观看导弹发射。

普京乘坐庞大的图-160战略轰炸机在俄罗斯北部地区试射了一枚巡航导弹，整个飞行过程历时5小时。之后，普京说：“我想，作为俄罗斯总统，我必须了解整个过程。”

在俄罗斯国防部长谢尔盖· 伊万诺夫的护卫下，普京接着登上了“彼得大帝”号巡洋舰，观看位于科拉半岛附近的俄罗斯叶卡捷琳堡核潜艇发射导弹，导弹冲出水面，消失在灰色的天空中。

导弹射中了一个远在5000英里以外的、位于俄罗斯远东地区的目标，弥补了去年普京在参加俄罗斯二十年来最大规模的一次军事演习时，导弹没有射中目标的遗憾。

这位曾经在前苏联时期为克格勃效力的现任总统是俄罗斯大规模军事演习的常客。除了导弹发射，昨天普京总统还参加了空中加油、超低空飞行等军事演习，飞机曾经以560英里每小时的速度在高出海平面仅200米的地方飞过。 liuxuepaper.com