Russia’s “reckless” actions run the risk of triggering an escalation in tensions with Nato, Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis warned after one of Vladimir Putin’s aircraft dropped sonar buoys near the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales.
Two F-35 fighter jets were launched to intercept the Russian Bear-F plane during the incident off the coast of Norway on Thursday last week.
Mr Jarvis warned that the Russian activities carried the risk of “miscalculation and escalation”.
He told MPs: “Russia poses a serious and persistent threat to UK and European security in every domain – under water, on the water, on the land, in the sky, space and cyber.
“And Russia’s reckless military actions involving Nato aircraft and airspace risk miscalculation and escalation, including their multiple reckless overflights of our aircraft carrier just last week.”
Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte condemned the Russian action as “unprofessional” and “reckless”.
He said: “The United Kingdom did exactly what needed to be done. Let me commend the British military for the actions they took.”
The Tupolev TU-142 Bear-F is a maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said: “While operating in the Norwegian Sea on Operation Firecrest, the UK’s Carrier Strike Group was repeatedly approached by a Russian ‘Bear-F’ maritime patrol aircraft.
“The Bear-F passed at low altitude and unnecessarily close to HMS Prince of Wales and dropped a large number of sonobuoys in close proximity to the carrier.
“This activity was unsafe and unprofessional. The Russian aircraft was intercepted and escorted by two UK F-35 jets from HMS Prince of Wales until it left the area.”
The UK’s Carrier Strike Group is currently deployed off Iceland under Nato command, with 1,500 British personnel on board.
The group consists of HMS Prince of Wales and its F-35 jets, Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan and support vessel RFA Tidespring.
The Bear-F is believed to have dropped tens of sonobuoys into the waters near the Prince of Wales.
The small sonar monitoring devices float on the water to detect submarines and other vessels.
The British forces attempted to contact the Russian plane on international frequencies, but it did not respond.
Two F-35 jets then flew from the Prince of Wales to escort the Bear-F away from the Carrier Strike Group.
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said: “This underlines once again that the threat from Russia is real, and why Labour must set out exactly how they are going to fund their shambolic defence investment plan.”
Elsewhere, the UK Government has sanctioned the scientists and institutions responsible for developing the Novichok nerve agent used in the 2018 Salisbury assassination plot.
Dawn Sturgess died after coming into contact with the poison, which was used in an attempted assassination of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
The sanctions announced by the Foreign Office also targeted the Russians involved in the development of the Epibatidine toxin used against Alexei Navalny, a prominent opposition leader and critic of Vladimir Putin.
