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Title: Russia questions Britain's claim to the Falklands as garrison reinforced
Source:
telegraph.co.uk
URL Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor ... ds-as-garrison-reinforced.html
Published: Mar 24, 2015
Author: Matthew Holehouse
Post Date: 2015-03-25 12:28:02 by Pericles
Keywords: Russia, UK, Argentina
Views: 1956
Comments: 13
Russia questions Britain's claim to the Falklands as garrison reinforced Extra Chinook helicopters and new missile system to be sent to be deployed, as Russia likens Islands to Crimea By Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent 7:18PM GMT 24 Mar 2015 Britain will send two troop-carrying Chinook helicopters and new surface-to-air missile system to the Falkland Islands, amid fears Russia could be arming the Argentine government. Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, said the Islands will be ready to repel “any potential threat” following reports that the Kremlin is preparing to lease 12 Su-24 long range bombers to Buenos Aires in exchange for beef and wheat. It came as Russia questioned the legitimacy of Britain’s claim on the Islands. Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian Ambassador in London compared the referendum held in 2013 that found 99.8 per cent of the Falkland Islanders wanted to remain a British territory to that held in Crimea last year. The snap Crimean referendum, held at gunpoint and used to justify Putin’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula, was denounced as a sham by Britain. Some £180 million will be spent over the next decade in upgrading the island’s defences, Mr Fallon told the Commons. Two Chinook helicopters, which were sent to Afghanistan in 2006, will return and allow troops to respond to possible incursions more quickly, while a new system will replace the Rapier air defence missiles when they go out of service at the end of the decade. ...snip... The Russian intervention came in response to Philip Hammond, who used the first anniversary of the Crimean annexation to condemn the “sham” referendum as a “fig leaf” for Putin’s “land grab”. In a statement, the embassy said: “In its rhetoric Foreign Office applies one logic to the referendum in the Malvinas/Falklands, and a different one to the case of Crimea.” It followed weeks of rhetoric from pro-Kremlin newspapers and leading Russian MPs denouncing Britain’s “colonial occupation” of the Islands, which they dubbed the “Crimea of the Atlantic”. Alexei Pushkov, the head of the Duma’s committee of international affairs, wrote on Twitter: “Information for London: Crimea has immeasurably more reason to be a part of Russia than the Falkland Islands to be part of the UK.” Cristina de Kirchner, the Argentine president, has backed Putin. “The Malvinas has always belonged to Argentina, the same way that Crimea also belonged to the Soviet Union until it was given to Ukraine,” she said last year, in comments that delighted the Russian president. ...snip...
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#1. To: Pericles (#0)
Meh. These are fighter-bombers designed in the mid-Sixties. As of 2008, Russia still had over 400 of them but was replacing those with the much more capable Su-34, a Russian version of the B1B bomber that was produced at the end of the Cold War, then stalled for a decade until 2004 when Russia started slowly building them. They have 57 at present and will have 120 by 2020 and, given the age of the design, will likely build no more than 150 total. Russia doesn't sell any of its good modern stuff to foreign powers, even those in no position to ever threaten Russia. I'm not sure how much Russia is really protesting or that the Argentines fail to understand that it won't take much for Brits to shoot down 50yo jet fighter designs on old leased Soviet jets. Maybe it's a slow news day or something. This story isn't much of a story at all.
I believe you are thinking of the Tu-160. The Su-34 is derived from the Su- 27, its closest American equivalent is probably the F-15E Strike Eagle, although the Su-34 has an airframe that has been altered more.
#8. To: nativist nationalist (#6)
Mmmm...exact comparisons don't really work, I guess. The T-160 is lot more plane than a B1B and a B1B is a real long-range bomber, not just a two-seat fighter-bomber like SU-34. Vlad in a T-160, 2005.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, said the Islands will be ready to repel “any potential threat” following reports that the Kremlin is preparing to lease 12 Su-24 long range bombers to Buenos Aires in exchange for beef and wheat.
#6. To: TooConservative (#1)
...the much more capable Su-34, a Russian version of the B1B bomber...
Replies to Comment # 6. I believe you are thinking of the Tu-160. The Su-34 is derived from the Su- 27, its closest American equivalent is probably the F-15E Strike Eagle, although the Su-34 has an airframe that has been altered more.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 6.
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