Wait, Russian fighter jets ‘intercept enemy planes’ in Putin’s terrifying war games over the Pacific

This is the chilling moment Russian fighter jets intercepted a replica enemy plane.

War-hungry Vladimir Putin is stepping up military exercises in the Pacific after sealing off Russia’s airspace off its east coast.

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Western defense attachés in Moscow were called in by the Russian Defense Ministry to be briefed on the surprise war games.

Part of the exercises is expected to test the readiness of Putin’s forces to retaliate against a Western nuclear strike.

Russians are told daily by the Kremlin’s propaganda machine that its territory is under threat – despite the lack of evidence and Putin being the aggressor in the war in Ukraine.

New footage from the exercises showed two MiG-31BM fighters over the Pacific intercepting a mock enemy aircraft.

The role of an air intruder is played by an Il-38 anti-submarine aircraft, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

It states: “Upon mission completion, combat crews practiced elements of air combat with simulated enemy fighters performing duties to cover ‘enemy’ bombers.”

In another phase of the exercises, Putin ordered his fleet to test a nuclear missile launch in revenge – on the one-year anniversary of his flagship’s sinking.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the operations were part of regular training to “maintain the necessary readiness of the armed forces”.

The unexpected drills were announced by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Friday.

The strategic firepower of the Pacific Fleet has been Moscow’s primary weapon in retaliatory strikes since Soviet times.

The move appears to be a deliberate show of Western strength amid Putin’s war against Ukraine, which has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

Exercises at the Vladivostok naval base were expected to include missile launches and operational readiness testing of nuclear-capable strategic bombers, as well as the fleet’s submarines.

The war games also had more limited objectives, such as repelling alleged enemy attacks on Sakhalin Island and the Kuril chain north of Japan.

Japan claims territorial rights to the Kuril Islands, which were conquered by Stalin during World War II.

Russia suspended peace talks with Japan last year to protest Tokyo’s sanctions on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.

General Valery Gerasimov – the Kremlin’s senior soldier – said Russian naval forces would be placed on high alert during exercises and deployed to training areas where they would conduct combat exercises.

“The main goal of this review is to build the ability of the armed forces to solve the tasks of repelling the aggression of a potential enemy from ocean and sea areas,” Shoigu – a close ally of Putin – said on state television.

“During the event, the Pacific Fleet will have to repel massive missile and air strikes, conduct submarine search and destruction drills, conduct torpedo and artillery fire, and rocket launches.”