00:01, Fri, Feb 6, 2015 By: LEVI WINCHESTER
Tensions between Britain and Russia escalated last week after RAF Typhoon jets were scrambled on Wednesday to intercept the two long-range TU-95 "Bear" bombers - one of which was reportedly carrying a nuclear missile, according to sources from the Ministry of Defence.
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, has now claimed the flights were an attempt by President Vladimir Putin to remind "us of what we're taking on" and that Britain should remain "quite cautious" when dealing with the nuclear superpower.
Theories over why the bombers were sent during the concerning incident include suggestions they had been planned to coincide with the public inquiry into the murder of Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, which opened last Tuesday.
Mr Litvinenko died at the Millennium Hotel in London in November 2006, aged 44, after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210 while meeting two Russian men - one a former KGB officer.
However Sir Tony suggests that the ongoing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, which saw their dispute over control of the Crimean Peninsula turn violent last year, very much "dominates the picture" for Putin while the Litvinenko inquiry is merely a "side show".
He said of the two Russian bombers: "I'm pretty sure what's going on [is that] this is Russia sabre-rattling, demonstrating that however angry we may get with them over Ukraine, they are not to be treated lightly.
"They are big nuclear power with a lot of military and we need to be quite cautious when dealing with them.
"They are reminding us of what we are taking on when we are taking Russia on."