Kremlin: Russia deployed long-range bombers in Crimea
The Chairman of the Federation Committee on Defense and Security, Viktor Bondarev, announced that Russia has deployed Tupolev Tu-22M3 strategic bombers with nuclear weapons in the Crimea. The bombers are capable of hitting air defense systems and missile defense systems "anywhere in Europe,” reports RIA Novosti.
Bondarev noted that these bombers will be upgraded in the next few years and will become "universal means for strikes on all types of targets at a distance of thousands of kilometers."
“In Crimea, we deployed anti-aircraft missile systems S-300 and S-400, Buk-M2, Pantsir-S1, two modifications of Iskander ballistic missiles ... A radius of combat action of the Tu-22M3 and the range of cruise missiles on board allows to carry a warhead anywhere in Europe, thereby striking any object of enemy missile defense and air defense systems,” the Russian media quoted Bondarev as saying.
At the same time, the chairman said that this was due to the deployment of the United States missile defense systems in Romania in 2015, which was "a serious challenge, in response to which the Russian Ministry of Defense decided to deploy Tu-22M3 airborne bomber squadrons at the Gvardeyskoye airbase in Crimea".
Currently, the 37th mixed aviation regiment of the Russian Air Force, including two squadrons of the Su-24M and Su-25SM, is based on the airfield located 13 km from Simferopol.