Russia dispatched two Tu-22M3 strategic bombers to patrol Belarusian airspace and practice interoperability with armed forces of command posts from the two economic and politically partnered nations, Russia’s ministry of defense announced on Wednesday. “During the flight, the aircraft practiced interoperability with the ground command posts of the armed forces of Russia and the Republic of Belarus,” the ministry said in a statement, Russian news agency TASS reported. “The Russian planes participated in a check of operations by the combat teams on air defense combat alert in the Union State’s integrated regional air defense system,” it added. The ministry noted that after all the assigned tasks were completed, the long-range bombers returned to their home airfield in Russia. Tupolev Tu-22M3 bombers are capable of carrying nuclear missiles, including hypersonic ones of the kind designed to evade sophisticated Western air defenses. Moscow flying the two bombers over Belarus comes as the European Union …