Russian Tu-95MC Bombers Flying Over Atlantic Are Unarmed

Russian military aircraft conducting flights over neutral waters are unarmed, a source in the Russian Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti on Monday.

Britain's The Daily Express earlier reported that one of two Russian Tu-95MC Bear bombers was armed with at least one nuclear warhead missile while flying over neutral waters above the Atlantic.

"We fly without weapons. This is some sort of disinformation, again we are being provoked," the source said.

On January 29, a Russian Air Force spokesman, Col. Igor Klimov, told RIA Novosti that the two Russian Tu-95MC strategic bombers, spotted near the UK airspace, were carrying out a planned 19-hour patrol flight over neutral waters.

British media suggested that UK authorities had summoned the Russian ambassador over the issue, as, according to the country's Foreign Office spokesperson, "the Russian planes caused disruption to civil aviation."

Klimov stressed that the flight was conducted in compliance with international regulations on the use of airspace over neutral waters and did not cross over any country's sovereign borders.