A Royal Air Force electronic surveillance aircraft violated Russian airspace in the Barents Sea, with a Russian MiG-31BM jet scrambled to intercept it pushing it out of the area, the Russian Ministry of Defense has indicated.
"The aerial target violated the state border of the Russian Federation in the area of Cape Svyatoy Nos. The actions of the crew of the MiG-31BM forced the reconnaissance aircraft out of Russian territory," the military said in a statement late Monday.
The foreign aircraft was identified as a Royal Air Force Boeing RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft.
The MoD did not elaborate on what "actions" the MiG-31BM took to force the intruder out.
Britain's MoD has not commented on the incident.
It's not immediately clear whether or not the British spy plane's violation of Russian airspace was deliberate, although the series of precision equipment packed into the RC-135 to aid in electronic and signals intelligence-gathering reduces the likelihood of an accidental deviation from its course.
The incident is superficially reminiscent of last year's provocation involving the sailing of a British destroyer into Russian waters off Crimea. Informed sources later told UK media that the deployment was a deliberate, preplanned operation concocted by Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Prime Minister Johnson designed to ramp up tensions with Moscow. Russian naval patrols were forced to fire warning shots at the errant British destroyer, with the provocation leading to a further cooling of already poor relations between the two countries.