Russian fighters ‘scrambled over Black Sea to prevent British warplanes approaching Russian airspace’

Two Russian fighter jets were scrambled on Thursday to prevent three British warplanes from entering Russian airspace over the Black Sea, the Russian defence ministry has claimed.

The Su-27 fighter jets were sent to intercept “three air targets” near the border, with Russia claiming to have identified them as a British RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft and two Typhoon fighter planes.

“As the Russian fighters approached, the foreign military aircraft turned away from the state border of the Russian Federation,” the statement claimed. It was not clear how close the planes came to each other.

The Black Sea has become an increasingly important theatre in the war between Russia and Ukraine, now nearing the end of its 20th month.

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he had ordered Russian planes armed with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles to patrol over the Black Sea.

Russia has previously reported a number of incidents in which its fighter jets were scrambled to intercept military planes from Norway, another NATO member, over the Barents Sea.

In September last year, a Russian pilot fired two missiles towards an RAF surveillance plane after mistakenly believing he had permission to fire.

Russia claimed it had been caused by a “technical malfunction” with the UK’s Ministry of Defence publicly accepting their explanation.

After firing, the first missile missed the RAF plane while the second failed to launch successfully. If it had reached its target, it could potentially have drawn a Nato member into a military confrontation with Russia.

The two Russian SU-27 fighter jets had encountered the RAF plane, which was carrying a crew of up to 30 people, as it was flying a surveillance mission over the Black Sea in international airspace on 29 September 2022.

The Ministry of Defence has been approached for comment.