MOSCOW , Russia ( Reuters ) -- Russia 's strategic bombers have resumed the Soviet Union 's Cold War practice of flying long-haul missions to areas patrolled by NATO and the United States , generals said on Thursday . A Russian Tu-95 Bear bomber , the type of plane used on long-range sorties into areas patrolled by NATO . A Russian bomber flew over a U.S. military base on the Pacific island of Guam on Wednesday and `` exchanged smiles '' with U.S. pilots who had scrambled to track it , said Maj. Gen. Pavel Androsov , head of long-range aviation in the Russian air force . `` It has always been the tradition of our long-range aviation to fly far into the ocean , to meet [ U.S. ] aircraft carriers and greet [ U.S. pilots ] visually , '' Androsov told a news conference . `` Yesterday we revived this tradition , and two of our young crews paid a visit to the area of the [ U.S. Pacific Naval Activities ] base of Guam , '' he said . President Vladimir Putin has sought to make Russia more assertive in the world . Putin has boosted defense spending and sought to raise morale in the armed forces , which were starved of funding in the chaos that followed the fall of the Soviet Union . Androsov said the sortie by the two turboprop Tu-95MS bombers , from a base near Blagoveshchensk in the Far East , had lasted for 13 hours . The Tu-95 , codenamed `` Bear '' by NATO , is Russia 's Cold War icon and may stay in service until 2040 . `` I think the result was good . We met our colleagues -- fighter jet pilots from [ U.S. ] aircraft carriers . We exchanged smiles and returned home , '' Androsov said . U.S. officials told CNN , however , that the two bombers came no closer than 100 miles to any U.S. aircraft and no closer than 300 miles to the Navy ships , and that there was no visual contact . Ivan Safranchuk , Moscow office director of the Washington-based World Security Institute , said he saw nothing extraordinary in Moscow sending its bombers around the globe . `` This practice as such never stopped , it was only scaled down because there was less cash available for that , '' he said . `` It does n't cost much to flex your muscles ... You can burn fuel flying over your own land or you can do it flying somewhere like Guam , in which case political dividends will be higher . '' The bombers give Russia the capability of launching a devastating nuclear strike even if the nuclear arsenals on its own territory are wiped out . During the Cold War , they played elaborate airborne games of cat-and-mouse with Western air forces . Lt. Gen. Igor Khvorov , air force chief of staff , said the West would have to come to terms with Russia asserting its geopolitical presence around the globe . `` But I do n't see anything unusual , this is business as usual ... like it is normal for the U.S. to fly from its continent to Guam or , say , the island of [ Diego ] Garcia , '' Khvorov said , referring to a remote Indian Ocean atoll used as a military base by the U.S. On Wednesday , young pilots of strategic bombers passed a series of tests , including missile launches . `` We fired eight cruise missiles , and all hit bull 's eye , '' Khvorov said . He said one crew had taken off from Engels in southwestern Russia , hit a target in the north and then flown thousands of kilometers before finally landing in the Far East . Engels is home to Russia 's supersonic Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers , in service since 1987 and codenamed `` Blackjack '' by NATO while called `` White Swan '' by Russian pilots . The generals said under Putin long-range aviation was no longer hindered by a lack of fuel , the aircraft enjoyed better maintenance and the crews much higher wages -- not the least because the Kremlin leader once made a five-hour sortie as part of a `` White Swan '' crew . `` The president learned about the pilots ' work the hard way , '' Khvorov said . `` This one flight yielded an awful lot . '' E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters . All rights reserved.This material may not be published , broadcast , rewritten , or redistributed .
Russian strategic bombers resume Cold War-style long-haul missions . Russian , U.S. crews `` exchanged smiles '' as bomber flew over U.S. Pacific base . Bombers enable Russia to launch nuke strike even if ground arsenals wiped out .