MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) - The Russian Defense Ministry has reported scrambling a MiG-31 interceptor fighter aircraft while a Royal Norwegian Air Force plane was approaching Russia's airspace over the Barents Sea.
"The crew of the Russian fighter identified the aerial target as a P-8A patrol aircraft of the Royal Norwegian Air Force. The foreign plane turned away from the Russian Federation's state border as the Russian fighter approached," the ministry said on Thursday.
"The flight of the Russian fighter jet strictly complied with international rules on the use of airspace over neutral waters, with safety measures observed," the ministry said.
"The Russian plane safely returned to its base airfield, and no violation of Russian borders was permitted," it said.
Russian airspace control systems detected an aerial target approaching Russia's state border over the Barents Sea on Thursday, it said.
"To identify the aerial target and prevent a violation of the Russian Federation's state border, a MiG-31 fighter aircraft from on-duty air defense forces was scrambled," it said.
According to official open information, the MiG-31 is a two-seat long-range supersonic all-weather interceptor fighter. It can fly at speeds of up to M2 and is designed to intercept and destroy aerial targets at extremely low, low, medium, and high altitudes in good and adverse weather.