Cold War: Approximately 1947 (due to U.S. President Harry Truman’s Truman Doctrine) to 1991 (Operation Desert Storm, collapse of Soviet Union).
During the Cold War it was known as Mikoyan & Gurevich (Микоян и Гуревич), hence MiG (МиГ). The MiG-29 began military service in 1983. NATO reporting name Fulcrum.
U.S. Department of Defense concept of what a MiG-29 looked like, image released to the public on 23MAY1984.
From 1983 to 1985 the MiG-29 was kept out of public sight, then the leadership of the Soviet Union changed, adopting a concept called Glasnost which resulted in public demonstrations of the MiG-29 all over the world.
Photo of MiG-29 number 01, published in Western NATO countries in January 1987.
Photo of MiG-29 number 02, published by the NATO-West in January 1987.
In 1989, the Soviet Union was trying so hard to be ‘open’ that they sent one of their new MiG-29s to an airshow in NATO-Canada.
U.S. Air Force personnel help Soviet personnel refuel a MiG-29 that stopped at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, enroute to an airshow in British Columbia, Canada. USAF photo by Sergeant Gregory A. Suhay, 01AUG1989.
The Soviet Union released this photo to the NATO-West in September 1989.
A Warsaw Pact East German (German Democratic Republic/Deutsche Demokratische Republik) Mig-29, on Preschen Airfield sometime in 1990. Photo by Rob Schleiffert. East Germany ceased to exist in October 1990.
U.S. Department of Defense photo showing the remains of an Iraqi MiG-29, after Operation Desert Storm in March 1991.
(See more in Desert Storm: AIRCRAFT GRAVEYARD)
Post Cold War, Balkan Wars, War on Terror, Battle for Ukraine, 1992 to present. Since the end of the Cold War the company is known as Mikoyan and is now part of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), but the aircraft are still referred to as MiGs.
A former Warsaw Pact East German (German Democratic Republic/Deutsche Demokratische Republik) Mig-29UB, now wearing unified NATO-Germany markings, parked next to a USAF F-16B on Ramstein Air Base, Germany, 11AUG1993. USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Gary Tomoyasu.
Former Warsaw Pact Romania MiG-29, 23MAR1996. Romania would officially join NATO in 2004. USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Russ Pollanen.
NATO-Germany MiG-29 flies alongside a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet, somewhere over the Mediterranean Sea, in Summer 1996.
The USAF claims this F-15C shot down the first Serbian MiG-29, during Operation Allied Force. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Ken Bergmann, 24MAR1999.
Oregon Air National Guard F-15C Eagle taxis with a NATO-Poland MiG-29, on Minsk-Mazowiecki Air Base, during wargame Eagle Sentry, 29APR2001. Former Warsaw Pact Poland joined NATO in 1999. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Jerry Bynum.
A former Warsaw Pact Czechoslovakia MiG-29, now wearing independent Slovakia colors, 09JUN2001. Slovakia would join NATO in 2004. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Mitch Fuqua.
USAF officers get a tour of a NATO-Hungary MiG-29, 15MAY2002. Former Warsaw Pact Hungary joined NATO in 1999. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Colette M. Horton.
Final flight of NATO-Germany’s MiG-29s over the Gulf of Mexico, 14MAY2003. USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Michael Ammons.
In the late 1980s, MiG developed a ‘K’ navalized version of the MiG-29 (first flight 23JUL1988), but there were no takers. In 2004, India decided they wanted the MiG-29K for their small aircraft carrier fleet. The training version MiG-29KUB first flew in 2007. The KUB version can also act as an electronic warfare aircraft.
Russian navalized MiG-29Ks.
Apparently, the fact that India liked the MiG-29K influenced the Russian Military Maritime Fleet to buy their own MiG-29Ks in 2009.
In 2011, California Air National Guard F-16s flew to Ukraine to take part in wargame Safe Skies. This video, by Senior Master Sergeant Christopher Drudge, shows a Ukrainian MiG-29UB taxiing past the California F-16s:
MiG-35 Fulcrum-F
In 2016, UAC-Mikoyan introduced a new ‘MiG-29’ called the MiG-35 (which looks a lot like the navalized MiG-29K). NATO calls it the Fulcrum-F.
This is from a NATO promotional video about Poland’s MiG-29 (edited by me), released in Spring 2018:
U.S. Department of Defense video claiming to show Russian MiG-29s operating over war-torn Libya, 05JUN2020:
Indian Air Power, 2021: 
Includes the MiG-29KUB
NATO-Bulgaria MiG-29 escorting U.S. Air Force B-52H, 24MAY2021, video (no audio) by Senior Airman Daniel Hernandez:
Ukraine Crisis, 2022: 
SLOVAKIA SUDDENLY RETIRES THEIR MiG-29 FULCRUM, AT NATO’S BEHEST
NATO video, 21MAR2023, NATO-Poland’s MiG-29UB launching from Malbork Air Base in Poland, and flying over the Baltic Sea:
On 16SEP2023, for the first time Republic of Serbia MiG-29s took part in an airshow in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia. Serbian Air Force-Air Defense video:
Post Cold War:
NATO’s MiG-21s
U.S. TALKS ‘HUMANITARIAN PAUSE’ YET DEPLOYS EVEN MORE FIREPOWER TO MIDDLE EAST!
