The British Royal Air Force on Wednesday deployed a number of fighter jets
after four mysterious planes approached the territory of the country. The
four foreign planes turned out to be Russian strategic bombers .
"Four Russian strategic bombers were intercepted and escorted," the British
Air Force said, adding that the bombers did not enter British airspace at
any point.
The fighter jets deployed were Typhoons. They took off from the British Air
Force Base at Lossiemouth, northeast Scotland.
They were joined by the Voyager air-to-air refueling tanker aircraft that
launched from Oxfordshire, England. Authorities did not provide further
details about the operation.
British troops routinely intercept foreign planes approaching what it
describes as Britain's "area of interest". It said earlier that four
Russian military aircraft entering the UK's international airspace police
zone could pose a danger to other air users as they often do not speak to
air traffic control.
In November 2021, British fighter jets were launched in response to several
approaching Russian strategic bombers. The Moscow planes were escorted out
of the "area of interest" and had not entered British airspace.
The maneuvers by Moscow's military aircraft come at a time when tensions
between Russia and the West are heating up over the Ukraine crisis. Western
countries, especially the United States and Britain, accuse Russia of
planning an invasion of Ukraine in the near future.
Moscow has repeatedly denied the accusations, insisting that the deployment
of hundreds of thousands of its troops near the Ukrainian border is
legitimate because they are on Russian soil.
On the other hand, Moscow is annoyed with NATO continuing to deploy troops
near Russian territory.
