He added that he called the Dutch F-16s into action on Monday morning, but the Russian bombers were intercepted before they could enter NATO-monitored Dutch airspace and have now returned.
A spokesman for the Royal Netherlands Air Force stated that aircraft are intercepted if they do not have a unique identification code, flight plan or one-on-one conversation.
He also said that Russian aircraft violating the airspace of a European country or approaching it is not uncommon.
For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said that long-range planes made planned flights in the airspace over the neutral waters of the Baltic, Barents, Norwegian, East Siberian, Chukchi, Beaufort Seas and the Arctic Ocean.
The event featured Tu-160 and Tu-95ms strategic missile carriers, as well as Tu-22m3 long-range bombers. The longest flight took more than 7 hours.
It reported that fighter escort was provided by the crews of Su-35s, Su-27s and MiG-31s of the Navy’s Aerospace Forces and Naval Air Force.
“All flights were carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace,” said the commander of long-range aviation, Lieutenant General Sergey Kobylash.
“Long-range aviation pilots regularly fly over neutral waters in the Arctic, North Atlantic, Black Sea, Baltic Sea and Pacific Ocean,” he stressed.
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