Russian bombers fly near Britain, NATO scrambles fighter jets

As reported, NATO was forced to scramble fighter jets to monitor the massive Russian aircraft.

Su-33 fighter jets escorted the long-range bombers during the flight, which, according to journalists, may have been a deliberate attempt to irritate the West near Santa Claus' flight route from the North Pole.

"Tu-95MS long-range bombers of the Russian Aerospace Forces made a scheduled flight in the airspace over the neutral waters of the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea. The flight duration was more than seven hours," the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The Russian ministry added that at specific points along the route, the long-range bombers were accompanied by fighter jets from foreign states, but did not specify which NATO air forces intercepted the Tu-95MS aircraft.

It is known that Russia has also used such bombers to strike Ukraine.

Interception of Russian aircraft

In October, Poland scrambled its MiG-29 fighter jets to intercept a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft. This was the third such incident in a week.

In September, NATO scrambled fighter jets after a Russian reconnaissance aircraft was detected over the Baltic Sea. Two days earlier, on September 19, Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated Estonia's airspace and remained there for 12 minutes.

In response, Estonia's Foreign Ministry summoned Russia's chargé d'affaires to protest, and the government appealed to NATO allies for consultations under Article 4. Russia denies any violation.

In addition, Norway reported that Russia violated its airspace three times this year, with each violation lasting from one to four minutes.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously said NATO countries intend to shoot down only those Russian aircraft that attack their territory.

At the same time, Russia has threatened NATO with war if its aircraft are shot down.