British and German fighter jets scrambled to intercept two Russian aircraft flying close to Estonia in a joint NATO mission on Tuesday - hours after a Kremlin warplane downed a US drone over the Black Sea - amid fears of an escalation in the region.
The RAF and German Typhoon jets were reacting to a Russian air-to-air refuelling aircraft after it failed to communicate with Estonian air traffic control in the Baltic Sea, and as it approached NATO airspace.
The Russian Il-78 Midas plane was intercepted as it was flying between St Petersburg and Kaliningrad. The NATO jets were later redirected to intercept a Russian Antonov 148 military transport aircraft that was also passing close to Estonian air space, the RAF said in a release on Wednesday.
It was the first joint NATO air policing scramble carried out by the two countries, and comes amid a period of heightened tension in the region due to Vladimir Putin's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and his threats to Kyiv's western allies.
Russia today warned it will 'consider any action with US weaponry as openly hostile' after the incident involving the drone in international airspace yesterday, which also came as Danish investigators said they had found a 'suspicious object' beneath the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, parts of which were mysteriously destroyed last year.
US officials said the MQ-9 surveillance drone was downed following an 'unsafe and unprofessional intercept' in international airspace by two Russian Su-27 fighter jets.
Pentagon officials said the Russian fighters harassed the drone by dumping fuel on it and flying in front of it, before one Su-27 clipped the propeller of the $32 million drone, forcing it down over the Black Sea in a total loss of the unmanned aircraft.
The US State Department summoned Anatoly Antonov, Russia's ambassador to the US, in protest over the incident in the early hours of the morning.
It came as the the UK was preparing to take over from Germany to lead the NATO mission in Estonia, a NATO member which borders Russia.
As the war rages some 500 miles to the south, British pilots are currently conducting joint air policing missions in Estonia alongside the German air force for the first time.
The Russian Midas was flying from Russia's second city of St Petersburg, that sits close to the borders of Finland and Estonia, and sits on the Baltic Sea.
It was travelling to Kaliningrad, a Russian semi-exclave also on the Baltic Sea that is the most western point of Russia.
After escorting the Midas refuelling plane, the two NATO jets were redirected to intercept the An-148 airliner, that was also coming close to Estonia's air space.
The Ministry of Defence stressed the 'routine' nature of the mission, but it comes amid tensions between the West and Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
British armed forces minister James Heappey said: 'Nato continues to form the bedrock of our collective security.
A Typhoon pilot from the RAF's IX(Bomber) Squadron, who was not named by the Ministry of Defence, said: 'We were scrambled to intercept an aircraft that was approaching Estonian airspace. We identified and monitored it as it transited close to Nato airspace.
'Any aircraft that are not communicating with Air Traffic Control or on a recognised flight plan will be intercepted by us to ensure we know who they are and maintain flight safety for all airspace users.
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