Britain has confirmed that it scrambled Typhoon jets to monitor two Russian Blackjack bombers, which flew near its airspace.

It is the latest example of Russia planes flying close to the UK – it is often a way of testing the response time of the military.

France says it escorted the bombers along its coast.

An official said the incident was the fourth time Russian fighters had been intercepted on the French coast over the past two years, a period of tension between Russia and western European countries related to the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.