( CNN ) Russia 's ambassador to Britain was summoned to the UK 's Foreign Office on Thursday to explain why two Russian bombers were flying over the English Channel this week , a representative of the office said . Two Russian bombers `` caused disruption to civil aviation '' when they flew near , but did not cross into , British airspace on Wednesday , the Foreign Office representative said . Two UK Royal Air Force jets intercepted the bombers , both capable of carrying nuclear weapons , south of Bournemouth , England , over the English Channel , a UK defense spokesman said Thursday . The British jets escorted the bombers for about an hour-and-a-half until the bombers left the area , the defense spokesman said . `` Russian aircraft maneuvers yesterday are part of ( an ) increasing pattern of out-of-area operations by Russian aircraft , '' the Foreign Office representative said . The representative did not elaborate on how civil aviation was disrupted . Details about what the Russian ambassador has told Britain about the incident were n't immediately available . Wednesday 's incident would be the latest in what NATO has said is an increase in Russian military flights near alliance members ' territory . In November , NATO said its members ' jets had been scrambled more than 400 times in 2014 to intercept Russian military flights close to members ' territories -- a 50 % increase over the previous year . The increase harkens back to the days of the Cold War , NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said November 20 during a visit to NATO member Estonia . `` This pattern is risky and unjustified , '' Stoltenberg said . `` So NATO remains vigilant . We are here . And we are ready to defend all allies against any threat . '' In a November report , the European Leadership Network listed more than 40 `` close military encounters between Russia and the West '' in the eight months from March to October . Three of those , including a near-collision between a Russian military plane and a Swedish passenger aircraft carrying 132 people , were classified as `` high-risk '' incidents that could have led to direct military confrontation between Russia and the West , according to the report , titled `` Dangerous Brinksmanship . '' UK jets intercepted more than 100 Russian aircraft last year , according to the British defense ministry . CNN 's Lindsay Isaac and Brad Lendon contributed to this report .
Russian bombers disrupted civil aviation , UK Foreign Office representative says . UK : Russian bombers were flying over English Channel . Russian bombers did n't get into British airspace , UK says .