Russia’s economy might be , but good strongmen always find new and potentially terrifying ways of distracting from all that. One of those ways is, of course, ramping up military activity that freaks everyone out.

In line with that, Russian submarines are hunting the seas at Cold War levels, Syrian bombing campaigns are at such a clip as to be testing the limits of jet engines, and it turns out that the Russian Air Force simulated a nuclear attack on Sweden.

First up, the submarines, via the :

The Russian submarine fleet has returned to the North Atlantic with such gusto that NATO sub commanders are reporting “more activity from Russian submarines than we’ve seen since the days of the Cold War,” according to a top NATO admiral.

Royal Navy Vice Adm. Clive Johnstone, speaking aboard a Spanish frigate at the end of last month, that the alliance is also seeing “a level of Russian capability that we haven’t seen before.”

Next, an Israeli surveillance satellite has captured of Russian attack jets on the tarmac in Syrian airfields, and if anything, Russian intervention in Syria is ramping up, not slowing down (via ):

The photos also show ten Sukhoi Su-25, a lighter jet, seven advanced Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets, and four advanced interception and attack Sukhoi Su-30 aircraft. Additional aircraft were likely out on aerial strikes while the satellite photos were taken.

“You can still see evidence of the vast number of attack sorties at the maintenance structures set up in the field, where Sukhoi Su-24 aircraft are going through repairs and engine replacement due to wear caused by the planes’ high level of activities in the Syrian airspace,” [head of the Fisher Institute’s missile research division Tal] Inbar added.

The arrival of the Su-35, Russia’s most advanced front-line fighter, in Syria is especially interesting, considering its primary focus on air-to-air combat, complete with thrust-vectoring engines like the Americanand advanced avionics.

And finally, simulated nuclear bombing runs against Sweden, of all places, via the :

Two Tupolev Tu-22M3 strategic bombers escorted by four Sukhoi Su-27 jet fighters crossed the Gulf of Finland and came within 24 miles of Swedish territory off the island of Gotland, 100 miles from Stockholm, on March 29, 2013.

They veered off after apparently completing dummy bombing runs against targets believed to include a military base in southern Sweden and the headquarters of Sweden’s signals intelligence agency outside Stockholm.

The incident caused controversy in Sweden at the time because the Swedish military was caught unprepared and had to rely on Danish airforce jets, operating as part of a Nato’s Baltic air policing mission, to respond.

In fairness, the United States to antagonize Russia fairly often during the Cold War.

But it’s not like a recent RAND Corporation study showed that Russian forces would , or like Saudi Arabia has signaled its willingness to follow Russia’s lead, and , thus turning up the international flavor of the conflict even more.

Actually, all of those things are happening. But hey, at least the price of oil is supposed to stay cheap. For .

Photos credit: AP/Getty Images

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