UK ‘intercepts and escorts’ Russian bombers off Scotland
Four Russian military planes approaching the UK were stopped by British Royal Air Force fighter jets, according to a statement from the force.
The force said four Russian strategic bombers had been “intercepted and escorted out”, adding that they had not entered British airspace at any time.
The Typhoon jets took off from British Air Force bases at Lossiemouth in northeast Scotland and were joined by a Voyager air-to-air tanker launched from Oxfordshire, England.
“The Russian aircraft types were two Tu-95 Bear H and two Tu-142 Bear F,” he said.
The force routinely intercepts aircraft approaching what it describes as the “UK area of interest”. traffic control.
In November 2021, jets were launched in response to Russian strategic bombers. Officials said at the time that the fighters had escorted the Russian plane out of the “area of interest” and that the bombers had not entered British airspace.
The latest Russian flight near British airspace comes amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Western powers over a Russian military buildup along the Ukrainian border.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed “deep concern” about Russia’s “ongoing hostile activities” on the Ukrainian border during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
Johnson urged finding a way forward that respects Ukraine’s territorial integrity and its right to self-defence, according to a Downing Street spokesman.
“The prime minister stressed that any further Russian incursion into Ukrainian territory would be a tragic miscalculation,” the spokesperson added.