Britain scrambles fighters to shadow Russian planes

London, Feb. 19, (dpa/GNA) - The Royal Air Force scrambled fighters to shadow two Russian military planes that flew close to British air space on Wednesday, the Ministry of Defence said.

"RAF Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon fighter aircraft were launched yesterday after Russian aircraft were identified flying close to UK air space," the ministry said.

The Russian planes did not enter British air space but were shadowed "until they were out of the UK area of interest," it said of the incident off the coast of Cornwall in south-western England.

"I suspect what's happening here is that the Russians are trying to make some sort of a point, and I don't think we should dignify it with too much of a response," Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday when asked the Russian planes.

The incident followed a warning by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon on Wednesday of a "real and present danger" that Russia could try to destabilise the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

"Putin is as great a threat to Europe as Islamic State. We've got to be ready for both," Fallon told reporters as he was en route to Sierra Leone.

He said a similar incident two weeks ago, when two Russian planes flew over the English Channel, was "the first time that's happened" since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.

GNA