U.S., Russia try to quiet flap over bombers in Cuba

The U.S. and Russia are trying to quiet speculation over a possible deployment of Russian nuclear-capable bombers to Cuba, but the reports haven't gone away.

The Russian newspaper Izvestia on Thursday reported that Russian bomber crews have visited Cuba to survey for possible refueling stopovers. The newspaper report, which could not be confirmed, came on the same day that a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman denied an earlier Izvestia report about alleged Russian plans to deploy strategic aircraft in Cuba.

But on Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry issued a strong denial of the report that first appeared in Izvestia on Monday.

"We see this sort of anonymous allegations as disinformation and another media hoax," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Ilshat Baichurin told the state media service Interfax.

At the same time, the Bush administration sought to defuse tensions by calling the Russian government a partner, not a threat.

"We want to work with them. We seek a strategic partnership with the Russians," said Dana Perino, the White House spokeswoman.

Buzz about a possible Caribbean crisis began when an Izvestia report claimed Russia was planning a tit-for-tat response to the U.S. that evoked the nuclear-holocaust fears of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

The flap over Cuba came as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was in Russia to broker oil deals and buy $1 billion worth of weapons systems.

Izvestia said Russia was considering dispatching long-range bombers to Cuba in answer to Bush administration plans to deploy an anti-missile shield in Eastern Europe.

The Bush administration has said repeatedly that the shield system — a radar site in the Czech Republic linked to interceptor missiles in Poland — is intended as a defensive measure against Iran, not Russia.

But Moscow is convinced the system could be used to neutralize Russian missiles, the cornerstone of its military deterrence doctrine.

Earlier this week, Russian officials quickly denied the initial report, though some said that while deploying strategic aircraft in Cuba was technically possible, no decision had been made. But many remained unconvinced by reassurances from the White House and the Kremlin.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz, nominated as new Air Force chief of staff, nudged the speculation up a notch when he told his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday that Russia would cross "a red line" if it decided to use Cuba for nuclear bombers.

The Izvestia story on Thursday said it was important to emphasize that the report on the visit of the crews — which it said came from sources in the defense ministry — did not mean the planes themselves had been on the island.