U.K. Jets Escort Russian Military Planes Off Britain

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. scrambled fighter jets to intercept and escort two Russian military aircraft flying close to the British coastline amid tensions between NATO countries and Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

Royal Air Force Typhoons operating under North Atlantic Treaty Organization command were deployed Wednesday from an air base at Coningsby in eastern England, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said in an e-mailed statement. The incident took place at about 6:30 p.m. off the coast of Cornwall in southwest England, the ministry said.

“I suspect what’s happening here is 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 Thursday in Felixstowe, eastern England, where he was campaigning for May 7 elections. “At no time did the Russian military aircraft cross into U.K. sovereign airspace.”

Violence has continued between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, in breach of a cease-fire that’s been in place since Sunday. Cameron has been one of the firmest proponents of sanctions against Russia.

The Russian planes were escorted until they were out of the U.K. area of interest, according to the MoD statement.

Russia may test NATO resolve using propaganda, cyber attacks and covert forces to stir ethnic tensions in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, U.K. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon was cited as saying by the Daily Telegraph newspaper Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is “in effect annexing vast swathes of territory” in Ukraine, U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said on his weekly LBC Radio phone-in show. “There is no evidence right now that he is doing or seeking to do the same in the Baltic states, but of course we should be vigilant.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London atamorales2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford atacrawford6@bloomberg.net Eddie Buckle, Leon Mangasarian