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This is the moment RAF fighter jets intercept Russian warplanes approaching UK airspace.

Dramatic footage released by Russia shows their pilots in the cockpit as the Typhoon fighters shadow them from a close distance.

The jets were scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland yesterday to escort the ‘Bear’ strategic bombers off the northern coast of the British Isles.

A Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker was also launched from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to accompany the Typhoons. At no point did the Russian aircraft enter UK airspace.

The incident came just hours before Boris Johnson spoke on the phone with Vladimir Putin, warning him that invading Ukraine would be a ‘tragic miscalculation’.

A Russian ministry spokesperson said: ‘In the course of the flight, the crews of Tu-95 aircraft practiced aerial refuelling. The flight time was about 15 hours.

‘At some stages of the route, the Russian strategic missile carriers were accompanied by Eurofighter Typhoon fighters of the British Air Force.’

‘Bear’ is the Nato reporting name for the Tu-95 and Tu-142 strategic bomber. The super-loud Tu-95 first flew 70 years ago and is the only propeller-powered bomber still in operational use today.

The Tu-95s took off from Engels air base in the Saratov region, with the Tu-142 flying from Kipelovo in Vologda region.

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