RAF fighter jets were sent to intercept a Russian bomber which was heading towards British air space over the North Atlantic, it emerged this evening.

	Eurofighter intercepts the bomber

Two Typhoons were sent from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire to meet the Bear-H aircraft after the early warning radar system detected it heading towards UK territory, according to the Ministry of Defence.

It is the first time the Typhoon Eurofighters have been scrambled since they took on operational duties on June 29.

No more details have been released about the incident, which took place last week, but it is bound to heighten tensions after a number of assertive acts by Moscow.

President Vladimir Putin announced this week that Russia has resumed long-range patrols by its bomber planes for the first time since the end of the Cold War.

Relations with both Europe and the United States have been deteriorating as Russia, buoyed by booming energy prices, has shaken off the post-Soviet malaise of the 1990s.

Western criticism has mounted as Mr Putin curtailed freedoms in Russia and imposed economic punishments on ex-Soviet neighbours who had pursued a pro-Western course.

In June The Kremlin was angered by US plans to move missile systems into eastern Europe.

Mr Putin threatened to aim Russian nuclear missiles at European cities in retaliation.

While Washington insists that the missiles are directed at the growing threat of Iran and North Korea, the Kremlin is convinced they are directed at Russia.

Earlier this month Sergei Ivanov, the hawkish Russian defence minister seen as a possible successor to Mr Putin when he stands down next year, announced an eight-year £100 billion military upgrade.

Defence spending has quadrupled since Mr Putin came to power in May 2000.