Putin flies his bombers near our assets in order to show potential client states like Iran and North Korea that Russia offers an alternative counter-balance to the U.S.
Loading nukes onto a B-52 means nothing to Russia in that context.
However, nuclear-armed, flying B-52’s *do* mean something to North Korea and Syria and Iran...as does Israel’s open statement that Damascus will be wiped out if Syria uses chems or nukes.
Both statements by the U.S. with visible nukes on the B-52 as well as Israel’s diplomatic punch were coordinated messages.
...and the lack of “spontaneous” protests by the easily incited crowds in the target countries shows that the leadership in question “got” the message.
Do we not have some sort of “gentleman’s agreement” with the Russians about not having strategic nuclear forces on ‘alert status’? I think we do. I also think that it’s a joke, but that’s another argument.
This could be a way of maintaining the agreement without scrapping it entirely.