Russian bombers fly unusual N Sea sortie - Norway

OSLO, July 20 (Reuters) Two Russian Tu-95 bombers made unusually long sorties over the North Sea, forcing both Norway and Britain to scramble fighter jets to follow the Russian planes, Norway's armed forces said.

The Russian bombers stayed in international air space last morning during their flight, which took them as far south as the region between Norway's Stavanger and Aberdeen in Scotland -- centres of the North Sea oil industry.

The incident, the latest of several such sorties in past days, occurred during a period of heightened diplomatic tensions between Russia and Britain over Moscow's refusal to extradite a murder suspect.

''It's a long time since they (Russian bombers) have been that far south. I would say that is rather unusual,'' John Inge Oegland, spokesman for Norway's armed forces, told Reuters.

''Since they were so far south, the RAF (Britain's Royal Air Force) followed the same procedure and went up to identify them,'' he said.

When Russian military planes approach Norwegian air space, Norway scrambles fighters to meet and follow them, as was the case on July 17 when two Tu-95 bombers made a similar sortie.

After that incident Russia's air force commander said the long-range bombers were on a training flight and did not intend to enter British air space.

COLD WAR Norway said it was not unusual for Russian military planes to fly over international waters across the Barents Sea and then either turn south into the Norwegian Sea or continue flying west over the Atlantic, before turning around.

Oegland said the apparent increase in Russian sorties along Norwegian air space follows a major exercise by Russia's Northern Fleet in the Russian Barents Sea.

''In such small exercises (as these sorties) they are not obliged to inform us. We obviously watch it but it hasn't raised any concerns,'' he said. ''The Norwegian and Russian military have good working relations.'' During the cold war, said Oegland, similar Russian training sorties took place ''nearly every day'' but their pace slowed significantly in the mid-1990s before picking up again in past years along with funding for Russia's military machine.

Norway also scrambled fighters yesterday to follow two Tu-160 Russian bombers, a more modern jet-engine strategic bomber than the propeller-driven Tu-90, which passed near Norwegian air space in the Barents Sea.

The Tu-160s flew west into the Atlantic, where they were met by two tankers for air-to-air refuelling, before heading back to Russia, Oegland said.

Reuters CS GC1543