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(Image: GETTY)

It is not known what the Russian jets were doing here, but the Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the RAF has been mobilised.

Two typhoon fighter jets have been sent to deal with the incursion.

The jets took off from Scotland after the bombers were picked up on radar over the Atlantic Ocean.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "Typhoon aircraft went up from RAF Lossiemouth to intercept two Russian Tu-160 aircraft flying in Britain's area of interest in international airspace over the Atlantic and remained with them until they left the area."

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Russia has in the past put flying close to UK air space down to "routine tests".

In May, the RAF was forced to scramble two jets on successive days to ward off Russian planes veering dangerously close to UK air space.

The Russian Bear aircraft were escorted away from the coast and at no stage crossed into UK sovereign airspace.

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And in June, three RAF jets were scrambled as Putin's bombers flew close to NATO drills in the Baltic.

Tensions between the UK and Russia over sovereign air space are long-standing, with the Kremlin reportedly unhappy about those drills, saying their were an attempt to revive the Cold War.

Another fear is that that Russian warplanes – which switch off their transponders to become invisible to conventional radar – could collide with a passenger jet.