Norwegian and British fighter jets scrambled to intercept Russian bombers over the north Atlantic, Norway's military command said on Thursday, the latest in a series of such incidents.
Eight Russian Tupolev-95s were detected in international air space over the Barents Sea early on Thursday, said Wing Commander Jon Inge Oegland, a spokesman for Norway's general staff in Stavanger.
"Following the established routines, we sent up two F-16s [fighters] to mark out Norwegian air space. The Russian planes were close to Norwegian air space but they did not enter," he said.
PHOTO: AP/ BRITISH MINISTRY OF DEFENCE CROWN COPYRIGHT
British interceptors were also sent to the zone to shadow the Russian aircraft.
"In the early hours of this morning, four RAF Tornado F3 aircraft from RAF Leeming and Waddington were launched to intercept eight Russian Bear aircraft which had not entered UK airspace," Britain's Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
Oegland said Russia had announced an aerial military exercise in the coming days.
"These latest flights are certainly linked to that," he said.
Russia's airforce announced on Monday that 12 of its strategic bombers would be taking part in exercises in the region, but they were meant to run on Monday and Tuesday.
Russia's TU-95s are long-range strategic bombers. They can be equipped with a nuclear payload.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the resumption of long-range flights in international air space while he attended military exercises on Aug. 17.
Even in the weeks before his statement, Britain and Norway had to scramble jets to intercept Russian planes near their airspace. Russian bombers had also been making frequent flights near the US.
Last week, Russia's head of strategic aviation General Pavel Androsov said the aircraft were not carrying nuclear weapons and that the main aim of the flight was to improve training for pilots. But the flights come against a background of increasing tension between Russia and some western powers.
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