Russia denies bombers planned entering UK air space

MOSCOW, July 18 (Reuters) - Russia's air force commander denied on Wednesday two of his long-range bombers intended to enter British air space yesterday, saying the planes were on a training flight unconnected to recent diplomatic tension between London and Moscow.

Britain's Royal Air Force scrambled fighter jets to intercept the Tupolev ''Bear'' bombers as they headed towards British air space but a Defence Ministry spokesman in London said the bombers turned back long before reaching Britain.

''Our planes were flying planned flights over neutral waters,'' Russian Air Force Commander Col Gen Alexander Zelin told the Interfax news agency.

''Such flights have been carried out and will be carried out in line with a plan for training long-range aircraft crews.'' The incident, with its echoes of Cold War military standoffs, came amid a furious diplomatic row between London and Moscow.

Britain has ordered the expulsion of four Russian diplomats after Moscow refused to extradite the key suspect in the murder of a Russian emigre in London last year.

Russia's Zelin said any suggestion that the bombers' flights were related to recent tension between the two countries was ''sheer nonsense'', Interfax added.

''We plan flights of bombers in line with a combat training programme at least half a year beforehand,'' it quoted him as saying. ''We resolve our domestic problems in training flight crews and do not interfere in politics.'' The Tupolev Tu-95, codenamed ''Bear'' by NATO, is Russia's equivalent of the U.S. B-52 bomber and is a Cold War icon.

Originally designed to drop nuclear weapons, it has been adapted for a wide variety of roles including surveillance and maritime patrol.

REUTERS SM HT1517