MOSCOW, September 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russian long-range Tu-95MS Bear-H strategic bombers will begin patrolling the country's remote areas beginning September 6, Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky, an Air Force spokesman, said Wednesday.

Moscow announced in mid-August that strategic patrol flights had been resumed and would continue on a permanent basis, with patrol areas including commercial shipping and economic production zones.

President Vladimir Putin announced the resumption of patrol flights August 17, and said that although the country halted long-distance strategic patrol flights to remote regions in 1992, other nations continued the practice, creating certain problems for Russian national security.

Washington played down the significance of Russian strategic bomber flights.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: "That's a decision for them to take... If Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again, that's their decision."