After a medical checkup and hearing pre-flight instructions, Putin changed into a flight suit and boarded the long-range Tu-160 strategic bomber jet as flight commander, Russian news agencies reported.

　　The Tu-160 bomber, piloted by Major General Anatoly Zhikharev, deputy commander of the strategic air force, took off from the Chkalovsky military airport outside Moscow with a crew of two navigators.

　　A second Tu-160 bomber, piloted by a lieutenant general, accompanied the president's jet.

　　The bomber flew at supersonic speed for ten minutes, practiced a cruise missile launch near the northern city of Vorkuta and refueled in midair before landing at the Olenegorsk airfield in the Murmansk region.

　　At one time, the jet flew at the lowest allowed altitude of 200meters at a velocity of 900 kilometers per hour.

　　"A new, high-precision, long-range cruise missile was tested today, and it hit the target. This is a good result," Putin told the Interfax news agency after his plane touched down.

　　The Russian president said he did not see much risk in flying on the jet and he enjoyed the flight.

　　"Although the plane has not been formally adopted for service, it has been placed on combat duty. A man in my position should be personally aware of how this is done," Putin said.

　　The Tu-160 bomber, one of the world's largest military aircraft,can carry 12 missiles or 40 tons of bombs. It can fly 13,000 kilometers without refueling.