One or two Russian military airplanes have entered Maltese airspace and have not made any contact with the local authorities this afternoon, The Malta Independent has learnt.

The aircraft, of the Tu-95 Bear H bomber type, are in flight over Maltese airspace and in spite of efforts by the Air Traffic Control Room to make contact, no communication has been received the pilot or pilots.

NATO yesterday reported an unusual spike in Russian military flights in European airspace.