Dramatic moment NATO Top Guns intercept Russian warplanes over Baltic Sea… then head off MORE Putin aircraft north of Poland as Vladimir tests the West’s defences

This is the dramatic moment Nato Top Guns intercept Russian fighter jets over the Baltic Sea before diverting another Putin plane to northern Poland.

It came as the Russian president directly threatened to bomb the West and accused NATO and the United States of “preparing to attack” Russia in his annual address to the nation.

NATO said two French Mirage 2000-5s intercepted a Russian SU-30-M aircraft over the Baltic Sea yesterday.

He also noted that immediately afterwards, the French fighters were reassigned to a new mission, where they intercepted a Russian AN-72 flying in international airspace north of Poland.

On February 12, Russia claimed that NATO had sent fighter jets to confront a pair of nuclear-capable missile carriers that were seen patrolling the Norwegian Sea.

The planes following the Russian plane. In his annual address to the nation yesterday, Putin directly threatened to bomb the West and accused NATO and the United States of “preparing to attack” Russia.

The Kremlin once again mocked the bloc by launching two TU-95MS aircraft to patrol the Norwegian Sea, which were escorted by a group of Su35S aircraft.

During the five-hour flight, “fighters from foreign countries” also accompanied the unit, although Moscow did not specify which Western air forces were deployed.

A Ministry of Defense source told MailOnline that the RAF had not launched any aircraft in response to the flyover.

The Norwegian Sea borders Great Britain to the south, Shetland to the north, Norway to the east and Iceland to the west.

“The flight was carried out in strict accordance with international standards for the use of airspace,” said Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash, commander of Russian long-range aviation.

“Long-range aviation pilots regularly fly over the neutral waters of the Arctic, the North Atlantic, the Pacific Ocean, the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea.”

Days after French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the West had not “ruled out” sending troops on the ground in Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion, Putin said in his annual speech yesterday: “They, NATO and the United States, They are active in other parts of the world, of course, and they continue to lie there, deceive.

‘They are preparing to attack our territory and, using the best possible forces, the most effective forces to do so.

NATO said that immediately after the first incident, French fighters were reassigned to a new mission, where they intercepted a Russian AN-72 flying in international airspace north of Poland. Pictured: A French plane beneath a Russian AN-72 in an image released by NATO.

“But we remember the fate of those who attempt to invade our territory, and of course their fate will be far more tragic than anything we can face.”

Putin repeatedly praised Russia’s vastly modernized nuclear arsenal in his speech, adding as a warning to the West: “You have to understand that we too have weapons, weapons that can defeat you on your own territory.”

‘Of course, all this is very dangerous, because it could lead to the use of nuclear weapons. Don’t you understand that?’

The Russian despot also chillingly assured that “strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness for guaranteed use,” but warned that the use of nuclear weapons would amount to the “destruction of civilization.”

He told NATO countries that their threats have created a “real” risk of nuclear war if they send troops to Ukraine, adding that Russia must strengthen its western military district after the admission of Finland and Sweden to the Atlantic alliance, as Finland has a long land border with northwestern Russia.

Putin said: ‘They should eventually realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory.

“Everything that the West comes up with creates the real threat of a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and, therefore, the destruction of civilization.”