Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers flew over Baltic Sea neutral waters, were escorted by Danish, Finnish, Swedish fighters - Russian Defense Ministry
MOSCOW. June 15 (Interfax) - Russian strategic bombers Tupolev Tu-160 flew over neutral waters in the Baltic Sea on Thursday and were escorted by foreign fighter jets in some areas, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
"The long-range aviation warplanes were accompanied by [Sukhoi] Su-27 planes from the Western Military District along their route and by an [Beriev] A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft of the military transport aviation," the ministry said.
The Russian missile-carrying Tu-160 bombers completed their flights over the Baltic Sea neutral waters as scheduled and violated no boundaries of other states, Russian Defense Ministry said.
"On some stages of the flight's route, the Russian strategic missile-carrying bombers were escorted by F-16 jets of the Danish Air Force, F-18 of the Finnish Air Force and by JAS-39 of the Swedish Air Force," it said.
"According to the approved plan, long-range aviation pilots perform flights over neutral waters of Atlantic, Arctic, the Black Sea, and the Pacific Ocean on a regular basis, flying both from base airfields and from operational ones. All the flights are performed in strict compliance with international rules on the use of airspace over neutral waters, without violating the borders of any other states," the ministry said.