US warns Russia B-2 bombers are ‘on Moscow’s doorstep’ with pics of jets training to ‘mitigate threats’

THE United States has issued a reminder to Russia that it has B-2 bombers “on Moscow’s doorstep” with a picture of jets training in the region to “mitigate threats.”

The US Mission to Nato posted a picture to Twitter that showed a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber flying alongside F-15s from the US Air Force and Eurofighter Typhoons from the Royal Air Force. 

The aircraft was reportedly carrying out a training mission over the North Sea. 

“Missions like this help mitigate security risks within the European theater and build relationships with our NATO Allies,” the tweet read. 

The picture was called out as being a direct reminder to Russia of US presence along its borders. 

“U.S. gov't social media accounts have been pumping out notices recently boasting that the B-2 is on Russia's doorstep,” tweeted Defense One editor Kevin Baron. 

“Just little reminders to Moscow (who is meanwhile carpet-bombing the US and Europe via a digital disinformation war.)”

It comes after an Air Force general said that Russia is the top military threat to the US homeland.

The commander of US Northern Command said last week that Russia's cache of hard-to-detect cruise missiles and advanced submarines pose the primary threat to the nation. 

“They’ve developed capabilities that didn’t exist 20 years ago …very low radar cross-section cruise missiles [and] submarines on par with our submarines,” Air Force General Glen VanHerck said, according to USNI News. 

He added that Russia possesses cruise missiles that can strike the US from within Russian territory. 

Coupled with Moscow’s  investments in cyber and space capabilities, VanHerck said the aim is for Russia to “create deterrence for themselves, destroy our will and delay or degrade our ability to project forward.” 

"We have had more incursions into our air-defense identification zones since the end of the Cold War,” the general said of Russian advances in the last year. 

“They took a large portion of their Pacific fleet, operated it right in … our economic exclusion zone right off Alaska” in late summer 2020, he also revealed. 

RUSSIAN AGGRESSION

VanHerck said that at the time, a Russian submarine surfaced “in the middle of a bunch of fishing vessels up there and actually fired a missile from there.”

He added that the actions were “certainly intended to demonstrate to the U.S. and others their influence.”

Last month, Russia issued a threat to the UK saying it will make it “difficult” for British warships to pass through the disputed Black Sea.

Andrei Kelin, the Russian ambassador to the UK, spoke out following the incident with Britain’s HMS Defender as it sailed near Crimea in June this year.

The Ministry of Defence has disputed claims made by Russia that “warning shots” were fired in the path of the warship.

China, Russia, and even Iran could benefit from the new political order in Kabul.

Jason Campbellformer director for Afghanistan in the Office of the US Secretary of Defense for Policy

Defense officials said “no warning shots were fired” and HMS Defender was simply carrying out an “innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.”

However, Kelin has now claimed the destroyer was not on an “innocent passage” but a demonstrative one, according to a Russian news outlet.

Kelin said: "We did not say that we would open fire, as some parliamentarians may have said, but next time it will be much more difficult for them because this is not the first time a British warship has done this."

Russia's President Vladimir Putin previously called the incident with the HMS Defender a “provocation.”

It also comes as Taliban takeover in Afghanistan may result in new alliances between Russia, China, and Iran that hurt the US, according to one expert.

Jason Campbell, the former director for Afghanistan in the Office of the US Secretary of Defense for Policy, said: 'The geostrategic effect could be profound."

"China, Russia, and even Iran could benefit from the new political order in Kabul," Campbell added.

Campbell, a researcher at Rand Corporation, had told The Sun Taliban may be able to fly the aircraft seized during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan by threatening American trained pilots.

He also warned that the "biggest concern" is that the small arms and weapons left behind to get into the wrong hands.