Norway scrambled two of its fighter jets this week after Russian bombers got a little too close to the Norwegian coast for comfort. It wasn't clear whether the Russian flights were related to diplomatic tension between Russia and Great Britain, which also sent out jets of its own.
Norwegian military sources confirmed that two Norwegian F-16 fighter jets were dispatched after two Russian Tupolev 95 "Bear" bombers approached Norwegian air space.
The Russian bombers first flew south along the coast of northern Norway on Tuesday, off Finnmark County. They made two more lengthy sorties late Thursday night, prompting Norwegian jets to fly out to meet them once again.
"We followed them for a while to the coast of Nord-Trøndelag, where they turned around," said military spokesman John Inge Øglænd of the Tuesday incident. Last night's flights went farther south into the North Sea, to the region between Stavanger and Aberdeen, the heart of the British and Norwegian oil industry.
The planes never entered Norwegian territory and military officials downplayed the incident, calling the dispatch of Norwegian jets "routine." Øglænd claimed the long flights are a natural part of Russian training.
"The Russian pilots know that we'll come," Øglænd told Aftenposten.no on Friday. "Sometimes we get so close that the pilots can wave at each other."
He acknowledged, though, that it has been many years since Russian bombers had been so close to British airspace and that the flights went further south than usual.
'Training mission'
Helge Blakkisrud, a Russian expert from the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), also played down theories the Russians are stoking tensions which have been running high with the British since Russia refused to extradite a key suspect in the poisoning of a Russian dissident living in London. The two countries have since resorted to expelling diplomats.
"It can be a signal that the Russians are rebuilding military might, but I don't think that's linked to the latest crisis," Blakkisrud told Aftenposten.no. "As far as I've understood, this was part of a large training mission that’s politically approved far in advance."
The British defense ministry confirmed that two of its Tornado jets were also dispatched because Russian bombers were in the area.
Russian authorities have claimed their bombers were simply out on training missions this week. "Our planes were flying planned flights over neutral waters," Russian Air Force Commander Alexander Zelin told the Interfax news agency.
