From Russia With Love

British papers are notorious for throwing a statement around to stir the pot. This one caught my eye over the weekend.

Relations between the Kremlin and Britain appear to be at their lowest ebb since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In recent months, there has been renewed diplomatic tension over a range of issues including the murder in London of former spy Alexander Litvinenko and Iran's nuclear programme.

Last week, in the latest round of sabre-rattling, it emerged that RAF jets had to be scrambled for the first time in years to intercept Russian nuclear bombers over the North Sea, which were approaching British airspace.

The number of incidents in which Russia's submarines have been found close to British shores or in contact with Royal Navy warships has also risen.

Certainly possible, but show me the proof. While a lot is made of the increase in flights by the Russian Air Force, the budget of Russia is being exaggerated a bit in the media. For example, the Russian Air Force has money for training and to increase flight hours of its pilots, but there is very little money for new equipment in this years budget.

On the flip side, the Russian Navy has plenty of money for new ships and submarines, but they are spending over 75% of their shipbuilding Navy budget on submarines. The rest of the Navy budget has very little money for 'other things' which has led to several editorials in Russia questioning the plan, pointing out that while the fleet is getting a bunch of new ships, the sailors are still on shore.

While it is possible Russia is deploying submarines off the UK coast, that seems a bit unlikely. If you watch closely, and I intend to get more proactive in pointing this out on this blog, every time Russia sends a ship to sea they make a big deal of it, mostly because even with their big hyped money influx it is still a rare thing.