TWO Russian Blackjack bomber planes were intercepted by RAF Typhoon aircraft in international airspace near Shetland on Thursday.

A Royal Air Force spokesman confirmed that the Russian planes did not enter UK territorial airspace.

“We can confirm that quick reaction alert Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Coningsby scrambled to monitor two Blackjack bombers while they were in the UK area of interest,” he said.

“At no point did the Russian aircraft enter UK territorial airspace.”

A similar incident took place in September last year when jets from RAF Lossiemouth intercepted two Russian bombers west of Shetland.