U.S. military weighing if Russia in Cold War pose

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington is trying to gauge whether Russia's recent bomber mission near a U.S. aircraft carrier indicated Moscow's return to a Cold War "mind-set" and is considering how the Pentagon should respond, a senior U.S. military officer said on Tuesday.

But other senior U.S. defense and Navy officials stressed they did not see Russia's weekend bomber flights south of Japan as provocative.

Four U.S. fighter jets were scrambled on February 9 to escort Russian bombers that approached the USS Nimitz south of Japan. One Russian bomber flew over the deck of the aircraft carrier, escorted by a U.S. fighter jet.

Adm. Gary Roughead, U.S. chief of naval operations, downplayed the incident and said it reflected Russia's emerging naval power.

"I think what we are seeing is a Russian military or Russian navy that is emerging and, in the case of the navy, desiring to emerge as a global navy," Roughead told reporters at the Pentagon.

"I do not consider it to be provocative," he said of the bomber mission.

But on Capitol Hill, another top U.S. military officer -- Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright -- said the Pentagon was trying to assess the implications of Russia's actions.

"Now, what we're concerned about is what are the indications of this return to a Cold War mind-set, what are the implications of that activity and how do we best address that," said Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The incident happened in neutral international airspace, Cartwright said.

"We're just trying to go back and look at what message was intended by this overflight," he told a Senate panel.

At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said the Russian bomber flights were not seen as a threat.

"The Russians made a decision to resume some of their long-range aviation flights, involving some of their assets left over from the Cold War," he told reporters.

"I don't think we view it as a particular threat. It is something that we watch closely, and I'm sure folks over at the Pentagon watch it as well."

Any U.S. expressions of concern to Russia would probably be carried out through military channels, McCormack said.

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