Putin puts West on notice, flies Russian supersonic nuclear bomber in Kazan

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday took a short flight on a supersonic bomber, part of his preelection effort to project confidence and power inside Russia, and a conspicuous reminder to the West of his country’s nuclear flight took only 30 minutes, the Kremlin said in a statement, but the range of the wide-wing Tu-160M, also known as a White Swan in Russia, allows it to reach the United States with two dozen nuclear weapons state television showed Putin, 71, climbing up the stairs under the giant warplane, one of the largest and heaviest in the world, before it took off from the runaway of an airfield in Kazan, a city east of Moscow. The Kremlin released a video of Putin’s flight, showing him sitting in a pilot’s seat. ► Subscribe to The Economic Times for the latest video updates. It’s free! - ► More Videos @ ETTV - ► ► For business news on the go, download ET app: Follow ET on: ► Facebook - ► Twitter - ► LinkedIn - ► Instagram - ► Flipboard - @economictimes #news #latestnews #economictimes #ET #TheEconomicTimes #businessnews