The Olenja military airfield near the Norwegian border already played a role in the Cold War, and now Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin is apparently stocking up on his arsenal there.
Olenya – The sky above the Olenya airbase in far north-western Russia was cloudless on October 7th. The US satellite operator Planet therefore received razor-sharp images of the planes that Vladimir Putin apparently stationed just outside the Norwegian border. Seven Tu-160 Blackjack nuclear bombers and four Tu-95 Bear-H are on the ground, according to a report by Norway’s fact-checking site factual from Monday now near NATO territory.
Ukraine war: Putin apparently increases arsenal at Olenya airbase
The Olenya air base was intended to serve as a springboard for the Tu-95 bombers against the United States during the Cold War of the then Soviet Union. In September, during the Ukraine war, the military airfield on the Kola Peninsula briefly drew the attention of the world public again. The Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post released satellite images showing four Tu-160 aircraft and three Tu-95s in August and September. The strategic bomber Tu-160 with the NATO code name “Blackjack” has an intercontinental range, flies at twice the speed of sound and can be equipped with both conventional and nuclear warheads. Probably the largest bomber in the world covers up to 2,200 kilometers per hour.
Putin apparently increased his arsenal in Olenya, because the factual Verified satellite images already show seven Tu-160 nuclear bombers and four Tu-95 Bear-H at the military airfield. “Two days later, another photo showed one of the Tu-160 bombers ready for take-off on the runway,” the Norwegian fact-checkers report continued. The planes, which are now located in the north-western region of Russia, are actually stationed at the Engels military airfield in Saratov Oblast, south-east of Moscow.
War in Ukraine: Experts apparently confirm the use and training of strategic bombers
Neither the Norwegian Ministry of Defense nor the Office for the Protection of the Constitution confirmed the findings factual first. “Together with our national and international partners, we are continuously monitoring the situation,” said Lieutenant Colonel and spokesman for the Norwegian Armed Forces Per Espen Strande.
The air force expert Lars Peder Haga is of the opinion that these are undoubtedly the Tu-160 and Tu-95 aircraft. “Deploying and training strategic bombers is in itself a form of nuclear deterrence, so this can […] be read as part of Putin’s nuclear threats factual the expert and associate professor at the Norwegian Air Force School. According to Haga, the planes should possibly also take on rockets. On the other hand, it could also be a relief of the Engels air force base, where the bombers are usually stationed. This is near the Ukrainian border.
“The fact that the planes are based there is part of Putin’s deterrence,” believes expert and professor at the Institute of Defense Sciences Katarzyna Zysk. The Kremlin chief wants to support nuclear deterrence and threats and make them credible. She faced factual also states that since 2007 the strategic bombers have occasionally been stationed in Kola.
Strategic bomber Tu-160 was already used in the Ukraine war
The strategic bombers are apparently also deployed in Ukraine. Ukraine’s General Staff said Tuesday (October 11) that Russian forces fired nearly 30 cruise missiles from Tu-95 and Tu-160 aircraft, damaging critical infrastructure in Lviv, Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Zaporizhia Oblasts, such as the US war experts from the Institute for the Study of War think tank reported. The Russian aircraft were used for the first time in an armed conflict in Syria in 2015.
Under the name “Grom” (in English: thunder), the Russian army conducts exercises of its nuclear forces every year. In 2020, for example, Grom took place in December, and Putin postponed the 2021 exercises to February 2022 shortly before the start of the Ukraine war, which experts interpreted as a warning to the West. The current activities at the Oljena military airport could indicate the Russian nuclear exercise, said the military expert Haga factual. Professor Zysk also assumed that the deployment could be seen in connection with the upcoming exercises.
In September 2018, during exercises, there was an incident involving a Tu-160 bomber that was traveling in NATO’s surveillance area near the Baltic States. Belgian and German fighter jets intercepted the Russian supersonic bomber.
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