MOSCOW, June 15. /TASS/. Tu-160 strategic missile carries have conducted scheduled flights over the Baltic Sea’s neutral waters with NATO fighter planes, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

"On June 15, the Aerospace Forces’ Tu-160 strategic missile carriers conducted scheduled flights over the Baltic Sea’s neutral waters. As some stages of the flight route, the Russian strategic missile carriers were followed by Denmark’s F-16, Finland’s F-18 and Sweden’s JAS-39 aircraft," the report says.

The Russian Defense Ministry noted that the Tu-160 planes were accompanied by Su-27 fighters of the Western Military District and an A-50 long-range radar detection aircraft.

"Long-range pilots carry out regular flights over the neutral waters of the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific Oceans and the Black Sea from both base and operational airfields, under the approved plan. All flights are carried out in strict conformity to the international rules of airspace use over neutral waters without violating other countries’ borders," the Defense Ministry highlighted.

Earlier the Finnish air forces reported the flight of Russian missile carriers over the Baltic Sea. Finnish military added that F/A-18 fighter planes were scrambled "to identify and make photos of the Russian warplanes."