Two Russian Tupolev-160 ‘White Swan’ [NATO reporting name BlackJack] bombers have performed a planned flight over the international waters of the Barents, Norwegian and North Seas, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

They were escorted by MIG-31 fighters.

"The duration of the flight exceeded 14 hours and the crews did midair refueling during the mission," the report said.

By tradition, UK’s Royal Air Force scrambled its Eurofighter Typhoons and F-16’s to shadow the Russian jets at separate sections of the route.