Dramatic moment NATO Top Guns intercept Russian warplanes over Baltic Sea… then head off MORE Putin aircraft north of Poland as Vladimir tests the West's defences

This is the dramatic moment NATO Top Guns intercept Russian warplanes over the Baltic Sea before heading off another Putin aircraft north of Poland. 

It came as the Russian president made a direct threat to nuke the West as he accused NATO and the US of 'preparing to strike' Russia in his annual address to the nation.

NATO said that two French Mirage 2000-5s intercepted a Russian SU-30-M aircraft over the Baltic Sea yesterday. 

It also noted that directly after, the French fighters were re-tasked to a new mission, where they intercepted a Russian AN-72 flying in international airspace north of Poland. 

On February 12, Russia claimed that NATO had scrambled warplanes to confront a pair of nuclear-capable missile carriers that were seen patrolling the Norwegian Sea. 

NATO said that two French Mirage 2000-5s intercepted a Russian SU-30-M aircraft over the Baltic Sea yesterday

The jets trailing the Russian aircraft. In his annual address to the nation yesterday, Putin made a direct threat to nuke the West as he accused NATO and the US of 'preparing to strike' Russia 

The Kremlin once again taunted the bloc by launching two TU-95MS planes to patrol the Norwegian Sea, which were escorted by a group of Su35S aircraft.

The five-hour flight also saw 'fighters from foreign countries' accompany the unit, though Moscow did not specify which Western air forces were deployed. 

An MoD source told MailOnline that the RAF had not launched any planes in response to the fly-over. 

The Norwegian Sea is bordered to the south by the Shetland Islands, to the east by Norway, and to the west by Iceland.

'The flight was carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace,' said Lieutenant-General Sergei Kobylash, commander of Russian long-range aviation.

'Long-range aviation pilots regularly fly over the neutral waters of the Arctic, North Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Black and Baltic Seas.' 

Days after French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the West has not 'ruled out' putting boots on the ground in Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion, Putin said in his annual address yesterday: 'They, NATO and America, are active in other parts of the world, of course, and they continue to lie there, to deceive.

'They are preparing to strike our territory and, using the best possible forces, the most effective forces to do so.

NATO said that directly after the first incident, French fighters were re-tasked to a new mission, where they intercepted a Russian AN-72 flying in international airspace north of Poland. Pictured: A French jet below a Russian AN-72 in an image released by NATO

'But we remember the fate of those who try to invade our territory and of course their fate will be much more tragic than anything we could face.' 

Putin repeatedly lauded Russia's vastly modernised nuclear arsenal in his speech and added as a warning to the West: 'They have to understand that we also have weapons, weapons that can defeat them on their own territory.

'Of course all this is very dangerous, because it could actually trigger the use of nuclear weapons. Do they not understand that?' 

The Russian despot also chillingly assured that 'strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness for guaranteed use', but warned the use of nuclear weapons would equal the 'destruction of civilisation'.

He told NATO countries that their threats have created a 'real' risk of nuclear war if they sent troops to Ukraine, adding that Russia must strengthen its western military district after Finland and Sweden's admission to the Atlantic alliance as Finland has a long land border with northwest Russia.

Putin said: 'They should eventually realise that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory.

'Everything that the West comes up with creates the real threat of a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and thus the destruction of civilisation.'