[Article by Aleksandr Mayorov on comments by 'high-level RF MoD source' that talks are underway between Russia and Cuba regarding the possibility of basing RF LRA bombers in Cuba in response to the deployment of US missile defence elements in Eastern Europe: "Will the 'White Swan' Settle on the Island of Freedom? Russian Military Aircraft May Return to Cuba."]

Will the 'White Swan' Settle on the Island of Freedom?

Russian Military Aircraft May Return to Cuba

"While they are unrolling their air defence systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, our strategic long-range aviation will already be landing in Cuba," a high-level source seemingly out of the blue mentioned in conversation with the Izvestiya correspondent. Izvestiya decided to check out this essentially sensational news.

In principle, our Long-Range Aviation aircraft could steal into any remote corner of the globe. Both the supersonic Tu-160 strategic missile carrier (pilots call it the 'White Swan'), and the Tu-95MS strategic bomber (NATO calls it the 'Bear') based on their technical characteristics, it stands to reason, are capable of flying to Cuba. But in order for that to happen what is required is not so much technical capability, as much as a political decision.

"Such talks are underway, but they are just talks. However, I am not going to say that there is nothing real behind them," the high- level source in the Strategic Long-Range Aviation headquarters responded to Izvestiya's questions with such mysterious phrases.

Russian pilots from other types of aviation frequently fly to Cuba -Military Transport Aviation, for example. True, these flights are not training flights, but commercial ones. Military Transport Aviation fills orders from private companies. Such flights on the one hand allow for making some money, and on the other, they maintain the pilots' skills. But the "flight cooperation" does not stop there. As Izvestiya has learned, right now Russia is conducting talks with Cuba on the delivery of Russian-made airplanes to the Island of Freedom. Recently two Il-96 and four Tu-204 (2 passenger and 2 cargo) aircraft were delivered there. Experts say that military and technical cooperation has a bright future for both Moscow and Havana.

"Russian-Cuban relations recently have become self-sufficient and do not depend on any political conditions," Russian Ambassador to Cuba Mikhail Kamynin recently stated diplomatically.

Speaking of Cuba, experts increasingly call to mind those facilities that were used during the Soviet Army's presence there. Indeed, the infrastructure at the Cuban port of Mariel is quite old, but it is still capable of receiving ships (it is there that our missiles arrived after crossing the Atlantic). Indeed, in the province of Pinar del Rio, where Soviet troops used to be stationed, it would be possible to accommodate the military.