Vladimir Putin has deployed 11 nuclear bombers at an airbase near the Finnish and Norwegian borders, according to new satellite images.
The move comes amid high tension over whether the Russian President plans an atomic attack in Europe.
He has gradually increased the number of strategic bombers at Olenya air base from none on August 12 to four Tu-160s on August 21 to 11 now.
There are seven Tu-160 strategic bombers and four Tu-95 aircraft at the facility on the Kola Peninsula.
The disclosure comes from Faktisk.no – an independent Norwegian fact-checking website – which obtained the data from American satellite operator Planet.
The buildup above the Arctic Circle follows international concern when two weeks ago when The Jerusalem Post reported on an “unusual deployment” of seven nuclear bombers at the airbase.
This was highlighted by Israeli intelligence firm ImageSat International which detected the “irregular presence” of TU-160s and TU-95s.
The Armageddon planes are usually stationed at Engels Air Base, 450 miles southeast of Moscow.
The bombers are close to the border of NATO member Norway, and soon-to-become Alliance member, Finland. They can also be used with conventional weapons.
There is evidence the deployment at Olanya has Kh-101 cruise missiles for possible use against targets in Ukraine.
The Kh-101 can carry conventional or nuclear warheads. The runway at Olenya airbase was empty on August 12.
The Tu-160 – aka White Swan, but known in the West as Blackjack – has been the workhorse of Russia’s strategic missile forces since Soviet times.
The super-loud Tu-95, known as Bear, is the only propeller-powered strategic bomber still in operational use today. The aircraft first flew 70 years ago.
Putin has deployed the Tu-95s to buzz Britain at moments of high tension, for example in February this year when the Royal Air Force scrambled Typhoon fighters to escort two Bears off northern Scotland.
