Russia Flew 2 Nuclear Bombers Over the English Channel

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It’s no secret Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to turn back the clock to a time when the Soviet Union strutted on the world’s stage, the only superpower offering a true counterweight to the U.S. On Thursday, though, Russia took steps – some alarming, some weird – that seemed aimed at reigniting the Cold War.

The U.K.’s Royal Air Force scrambled fighter jets on Thursday after a pair of nuclear-capable Russian bombers flew across a busy civilian air traffic corridor above the English Channel. The bombers had their transponders turned off, British officials said, making them invisible to many air traffic control systems. The incident disrupted multiple flights – and ended with the U.K. government demanding the Russian ambassador appear at the Foreign Office to explain the actions.

On the same day, a Russian lawmaker proposed legislation that would condemn the reunification of East and West Germany in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The proposal, supported by Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin, a close Putin ally, would declare the reunification an illegal “annexation” of East Germany by West Germany.

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Talk of a new Cold War has been commonplace in recent months, but on Thursday Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union and someone who can legitimately be said to have helped end the Cold War, struck a distinctly pessimistic tone in comments to Interfax, the Russian news service.

The U.S. and Russia, he said, are already in a new Cold War. “Unfortunately I cannot say for sure that a cold war won't lead to a ‘hot’ one,” Mr. Gorbachev was quoted as saying. “I fear they could take the risk.”

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