Washington - NATO airspace was violated last week over the north Atlantic by two Russian bombers with long-range missiles, forcing US planes in Iceland to scramble, it emerged yesterday. The confrontation is one of the most serious incidents of its kind since the end of the Cold War.
The Clinton administration and the Russian government played down the seriousness of the incident yesterday, but there were signs that it had shocked Washington. NATO nerves are still jangling from Russia's unexpected, early deployment of troops in Kosovo last month.
In last week's incident, the Russian TU-95 Bear bombers flew into Icelandic airspace while taking part in what the White House described as one of Russia's largest military exercises of the decade. As they approached from the east, they were met by two pairs of F-15 fighters and a P-3 patrol plane and escorted around Iceland, remaining about 60 miles from the coastline.