Lieutenant General Igor Khvorov, the commander of the 37th Air Force army, said Putin would be accompanying the jet's pilot on a mission planned as part of an exercise to practice long-range bombing operations against northwestern targets. A squadron of three Tu-160s is taking part.
Khvorov said the bomber would head for the city of Vorkuta, beyond the Arctic Circle, and would break the sound barrier when it had moved away from population centers. He said breaking the sound barrier would be the mission's most crucial phase and that the pilot would tell Putin about it in detail.
At some point during the operation, the bomber will descend to an ultra-low altitude of 200 meters (about 650 feet) and be flying at a speed of 900 kilometers per hour. It will also be refueled in mid-air. One of the other bombers will launch a cruise missile, whose flight will be observable from Putin's jet.
