WASHINGTON -- Two Russian attack submarines were detected patrolling the waters off the East Coast of the U.S. in recent days, including one that came as close as 200 miles offshore, according to U.S. military officials.

Although Pentagon officials monitoring the subs' movements didn't consider them threatening, one senior military official said the patrols were unusual, given the weakened state of the Russian navy and the failure of Moscow to conduct such missions in years.

"Is it unusual? Yes, but we don't view it as provocative at all," the official said, adding that both subs remained in international waters at all times. The patrols were reported on the Web site of the New York Times.

During the Cold War, subs from both the U.S. and the Soviet Union regularly patrolled the North Atlantic in an elaborate game of naval brinkmanship intended to track rival fleets and position themselves strategically in case of war.

The senior military official said the two Russian vessels were nuclear-powered Akula class submarines, which were used during the Cold War to track North Atlantic Treaty Organization vessels and, in the event of war, attack enemy subs and ships with torpedoes and missiles. Only larger ballistic-missile subs are used for nuclear-weapons launches.

The Times reported that one of the subs had recently made port in Cuba, but the official said the U.S. has no confirmation of that move and that the second sub is believed instead to have remained close to Greenland.

The submarine patrols are the latest series of recent military operations by the Russians -- many of which Moscow dropped in the years following the Cold War -- which analysts believe are an attempt to reassert the stature of its military.

Last year, a Russian long-range strategic bomber buzzed the U.S. aircraft carrier Nimitz and its accompanying flotilla as the Pearl Harbor-based strike group was patrolling the Pacific.

Two years ago, the Royal Air Force scrambled fighters to intercept Russian strategic "Bear" bombers that were flying patrols close to British airspace.
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US 'continues' to supply Georgia with arms August 5, 2009 presstv.ir

Moscow has warned it will hit back if the Georgian provocations continue Amid escalating tension between Moscow and Tbilisi, a top Russian official says the United States continues to supply Georgia with weapons. "According to our information, delivery of weapons from the United States is continuing. This is worrisome and will force us to take corresponding measures," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigori Karasin told journalists on Wednesday. The warning came after Russian troops in South Ossetia were put on increased combat readiness on the border with Georgia, ahead of the 2008 Georgia-Russia war anniversary. Also on Wednesday, Russia's deputy chief of staff, General Anatoly Nogovitsin, told reporters that Georgia is swiftly re-arming with the aim of waging a new military conflict. "We clearly see that Georgia is re-arming to previous levels and higher" than before the August 2008 conflict, Nogovitsin said. "If there is an aggression, I can tell you that our response will be adequate. As a military man, I can tell you that we are closely monitoring the situation," he added. He acknowledged, however, that there was no evidence of any imminent action, "beyond these continuous provocations" from the Georgian side. Russia has repeatedly charged the West, led by the US, of helping Georgia re-equip its military after Russia severely depleted the former soviet nation's weaponry in the August conflict. Moscow has warned that it will hit back, should the Georgian provocations continue. Tbilisi, however, denies any violations of the ceasefire and in turn accuses the Russian side of breaking the truce.