RAF Jets Intercept Russian Military Bombers
RAF jets have intercepted and escorted Russian military Bear aircraft, the Ministry of Defence has said.
It comes amid what NATO described as an "unusual" increase in activity from Russian military jets over European airspace.
The two Typhoon fighters were scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth to intercept the Russian Bear bombers, escorting them through British airspace on Wednesday.
NATO said Russia had not filed flight plans and the bombers were not using on-board transponders, adding that this posed "a potential risk to civilian aviation".
It happened on the same day two Typhoons from RAF Coningsby were sent to escort a suspicious plane to Stansted Airport in Essex.
A sonic boom was heard as the Typhoons made their way to the location of the plane, which turned out to be a civilian Latvian cargo aircraft heading for Birmingham with car parts.
The Prime Minister was overheard on Thursday referring to the incident as "nerve-wracking", saying the RAF were "busy over the skies".
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance "remains vigilant and ready to respond" to any Russian threat.
"We need to keep our forces ready, therefore we are investing in high readiness, new capabilities," Mr Stoltenberg told a press conference.
"We are increasing air policing as an answer to the increased air activities we are seeing from Russia."
The alliance said there had been at least four incidents involving more than a dozen Russian military planes over the region, with air forces from the UK, Scandinavia, Turkey, Germany and Portugal intercepting the offenders.
Russian aircraft have been intercepted more than 100 times this year - three times more than in the whole of last year, it said.
NATO added that in a 24-hour period ending late on Wednesday, there were more than 19 cases of Russian aircraft in European airspace.
Tensions between Russia and NATO are already high due to the crisis in Ukraine, which began after Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula early this year.
Ian Litschko, a Russia analyst at the NATO Council of Canada, said the uptick in activity appeared to be a "show of force" by President Vladimir Putin.
However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "not worried".
"Over the past few months, I have been seeing more intense activity when it comes to Russian armed forces," Mrs Merkel said.
"But at this point, I am not worried that there is major violation of our airspace."
