MOSCOW, August 17. /TASS/. The United Kingdom did not even bother to disguise its provocation involving the flight of a spy plane over the Black Sea, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Defense and Security Committee Viktor Bondarev said.

"Any attempt to violate our airspace will be met with an immediate response and the UK will definitely be responsible for all the consequences," he wrote on Telegram.

He pointed out that the UK was "known for various provocations" but those were usually disguised. "In my opinion, by making a brazen request (for the spy plane’s flight - TASS), the United Kingdom either sought to test the limits of permissible behavior towards Russia or - since it realized that the answer would be negative - it planned to present Russia as an uncooperative aggressor in the eyes of the international community," Bondarev noted.

The senator stressed that a Russian warplane had forced a British reconnaissance aircraft out of Russia’s airspace on Monday, "and the very next day, they decided to enter our airspace again, only legally." "Did they really expect to get permission? That’s unlikely. And they will hardly be willing to match their strength against us because our air fleet is far stronger," Bondarev emphasized.

On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Britain’s RC-135 radio-technical reconnaissance and radio-electronic warfare plane had violated Russia’s airspace near Cape Svyatoy Nos over the Barents Sea. Russia’s MiG-31BM fighter forced the plane out of Russia’s airspace. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that the United Kingdom had submitted a request for a flight by its reconnaissance plane along a route through Russia’s airspace over the Black Sea. Russia’s Aerospace Forces were ordered to prevent provocations.