The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, made a statement to the press this Wednesday (18) during his visit to Beijing (China) in which he made no compromises and issued a direct threat against the United States for its “approach” in the Mediterranean Sea deploys two of its main aircraft carriers under the pretext of “supporting” Israel in its attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Although Putin said that such words were not a threat, he stressed that he had already given his air force permission to station MiG31 fighter jets in the Black Sea region, 1,300 kilometers from Israel, and to carry out a permanent patrol equipped with them Hypersonic missiles of the “Kinzhal system”, the only ones of their kind in the world, which have a range of 1,500 kilometers and reach speeds of Mach9 (more than 11,000 km / h).
“This is not a threat … On my instructions, the Russian Aerospace Forces will begin permanently patrolling the neutral airspace zone over the Black Sea, and the MiG31 will be armed with Kinzhal systems … I emphasize “This is not a threat, but we will exercise visual and weapons control over what is happening in the Mediterranean,” the Kremlin chief said.
The Kinzhal system missiles are sophisticated weapons designed to shoot down aircraft from the air such as the MiG31 fighter or the TU22M bomber. They reach such speed that they create a cloud of plasma around the rocket, making it invisible to radars. These weapons can change trajectory after firing and are extremely difficult to intercept, although the Ukrainian government claims it has already shot down 14 Kinzhals in the war against the Russians.
Watch Putin’s threatening interview: