The Government has been urged by MPs to get tough with Moscow over unauthorised incursions by Russian warplanes into the airspace around Britain.

The Commons Defence Committee said that Russian military aircraft had attempted to enter the airspace around the UK without permission on 18 separate days over the past two years.

Although the aircraft did not enter British territorial airspace, under international civil aviation rules the Russians are supposed to notify the authorities of flights which pass through the wider "UK flight information region".

The committee said that while the flights did not pose a direct threat to the security of the UK or Nato, they could endanger civil aircraft flying in the same area and risked causing serious accidents.

"They are not the actions of a friendly nation and risk escalating tension. Russia should not be making such flights without informing the appropriate authorities," the committee said.

"The Government should take a more robust approach in making clear to Russia that its continued secret incursions by military aircraft into international airspace near to the UK is not acceptable behaviour."

The resumption of long-range reconnaissance flights by Russian Bear bombers in the summer of 2007 - and the subsequent scrambling of RAF fighters to intercept them - revived memories of the Cold War at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West.

The committee said that such flights took place on 10 separate days in 2007, although they have since dropped off, with flights on just two days so far this year.

Overall the committee said that Britain should adopt a "practical and hard-headed approach" in its dealings with Russia.

"However desirable co-operation with Russia may be, it should not come at the price of accepting the legitimacy of a Russian sphere of influence," it said. "The Government should adopt a hard-headed approach to engagement with Russia, based on the reality of Russia's foreign policy rather than abstract and misleading notions of shared values."

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