This video shows Russian fighter pilots taking part in military exercises near Saint Petersburg amid fears that the Kremlin will invade the Ukraine.

The Ministry of Defence of Russia released the footage today (Tuesday, 22nd February) with the message: “The crews of the fighter aviation regiment of the Western Military District (ZVO) worked out measures to force a simulated intruder in the sky of the Leningrad Region to land.

“The pilots of MiG-31 high-altitude fighter-interceptors in conditions of limited visibility performed take-offs and manoeuvres at an altitude of about 400 metres. After that, at an altitude of about 14,000 meters, the aircraft crews, using the Zaslon-M airborne radar, deployed a radar field to monitor the airspace. During the monitoring, a target was detected moving at a speed of about 2000 km per hour, the role of which was performed by another MiG-31 aircraft. The crews performed rendezvous and a set of actions to force the mock intruder to land.

“The exercise took place at night, which made it much more difficult for the pilots to carry out the tasks. In addition, landing at the home airfield was carried out with instruments.

“Four crews of the Mig-31 aircraft took part in the exercise, which completed the tasks in the entire range of altitudes. About 50 military personnel from the flight control group, flight and engineering staff of the fighter aviation regiment of the Western Military District were involved.”