Two Russian strategic missile carrier bombers fly over Barents, Norwegian seas

April 26 (Reuters) – Two Tu-160 strategic missile carrier bombers completed a planned, more than 14-hour flight over the neutral waters of the Barents and Norwegian Seas, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

“During the flight, the crews of long-range aviation aircraft carried out night and day refuelling in the air,” the ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. “Fighter escort was provided by the crews of the MiG-31 aircraft of the Air Force and Air Defense of the Northern Fleet.”

Meanwhile, ubmarines from Russia’s Pacific Fleet destroyed a mock enemy object as part of naval drills in the Sea of Japan, the news agency Interfax reported on Tuesday.

“Two diesel-electric submarines … conducted a tactical anti-submarine exercise in the Sea of Japan to search for and destroy a mock enemy submarine,” the agency said, citing a statement from the fleet’s media service.

The submarines used a “training torpedo” to attack the target, the agency reported.

The Project 636 Varshavyanka submarines used in the drills are part of a Russian class of diesel-electric attack submarines, known in the West as the “improved Kilo class”.

The TASS news agency reported that six of the submarines would be built for Russia’s Northern Fleet in the Arctic. The vessels, which carry the Kalibr-PL cruise missile, are 74 metres (243 ft) long and can cruise up to 7,500 miles.

On Monday, Russia announced the drills of its antisubmarine destroyer Admiral Tributs in the Sea of Japan.