REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov    

OTTAWA (Reuters) By David Ljunggren Canadian fighter planes scrambled to intercept an approaching Russian bomber less than 24 hours before U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Ottawa last week, Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay said on Friday.

The long-range Bear bomber did not enter Canada’s Arctic airspace but the two CF-18 fighters had to order the plane to “back off”, MacKay told a news conference.

He also told reporters that Russia had not warned Canada that the flight was coming, a statement that a Russian government source in Moscow dismissed as farcical.

The Russian government source said Canada had been informed about the flight before it took off.
[…]
Canada quickly denied receiving any advance notice.
[…]
“I’m not going to stand here and accuse the Russians of having deliberately done this during the presidential visit but it was a strong coincidence, which we met with the presence, as we always do, of F-18 fighter planes … and sent a strong signal that they should back off and stay out of our air space,” MacKay said.

Found by Mister Justin.




  1. joaoPT says:

    It’s the Artic thing…
    Funny how Governments are coy about global warming (aka climate change), but go in, head first on securing large chunks of the ocean left free by receding ice.
    It’s like: “there’s no warming, but we’re here first, just in case.”

    #19 Bobbo: I got it first on #9…

  2. BubbaRay says:

    # 31, joaoPT,

    Yes, you certainly did. I missed that. We’re even since you said, “Bobbo, …”

  3. Nth of the 49th says:

    Feeble attempt by the Conservative Government to distract people away from their contrarian economic policies.

  4. Doccolorado says:

    Most people miss the point of what Russia is doing here including the media.

    This is NOT about the bomber or where it was going, it what you DON’T know about that you might be concerned with.

    When you want to see what a particular response from an enemy is, send in something you don’t mind loosing, stand back, monitor the response, and learn.

    The good news is our folksy people in the THREE LETTER AGENCY’s get this,

    but also remember, some responses, and monitoring can’t be photographed, LOL

    Why not trying to think outside your little boxes you all live in?

  5. RBG says:

    Maybe if the Conservatives had a majority they wouldn’t have to cater at all to opposition policy.

    RBG

  6. James Hill Loves Backlava says:

    Any reason to discriminate against Russians works for me.

  7. Buzz says:

    Was this a first example of Biden’s prediction?

  8. jimbo says:

    #34 Doccolorado

    I’m very outside the box, maybe you should think outside your world of RTS videogames…Please,.,like we need you to explain what’s going on

  9. BillFromOttawa says:

    Look, most Americans have no idea what or where Ottawa is. Do you think the Russians do? Anyway, the “arctic airspace” they speak of is a long way from Ottawa. Obama would have been gone by the time they, a. found Ottawa, b. Found where to bomb Obama, in Ottawa and c. get him before he left.


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