UK fighter jets have been scrambled to intercept and escort two Russian Tu142 long-range anti-submarine aircraft as they were approaching British airspace, the Royal Air Force (RAF) reports on its Twitter page.
The RAF added that the Typhoon fighter jets, which lifted off from the Lossiemouth airbase in Scotland, were supported by the Voyager tanker during the Tuesday mission.
The interception came a few days after the UK Defence Ministry said that RAF fighter jets had intercepted five Russian military aircraft over the Baltic region in the past two days. The Russian Defence Ministry hasn't yet commented on the UK MoD's statement.
The Ministry said that last Monday that the the Typhoons were scrambled to intercept a Russian Antonov An-26 “Curl” military transport aircraft, in a mission that was then diverted to shadow a Russian Tu-142 “Bear” bomber and two Su-27B “Flanker” fighters.
The UK Defence Ministry quoted an unnamed Typhoon pilot as claiming that during an “uneventful” intercept, the An-26 was allegedly “routing west close to Estonian airspace”, while the TU-142 and the Su-27Bs were ostensibly “operating to the south close to Lithuanian airspace”.
The Russian Defence Ministry, in turn, has repeatedly underscored that all the flyovers of the country’s Aerospace Forces bombers are carried out in strict accordance with all international air norms and regulations.