The Daily Beast reports on a variety of Russian aircraft flying provocative missions around the periphery of Europe, of NATO. It's just ol' Vlad the Improviser reminding us not to take his peaceful intent for granted.
This sort of mission can have several goals, at least one of which is to trigger alarm so frequently that if the balloon eventually goes up, people will think it is just another drill and not take it seriously. Another goal would be intimidation of European powers which have no political will to spend any significant portion of GDP on their militaries.
