Britain summoned the Russian ambassador on Thursday and asked him to explain why two Russian Bear long-range bombers had flown over the English channel the previous day, a move that forced British authorities to divert civil aircraft.

"We summoned the Russian ambassador to account for the incident which disrupted civil aviation," a Foreign Office spokeswoman told Reuters.

British Typhoon fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the two Russian planes, which were flying close to UK airspace, on Wednesday.