Russia was branded 'reckless today' after two of its warplanes targeted a UK-led carrier strike group in the Arctic, before being chased off by British fighters.Defence secretary Dan Jarvis said that Vladimir Putin risked triggering a serious confrontation after it was revealed the aircraft came close to HMS Prince of Wales last week.The ship launched F-35 fighters to intercept the pair of Bear maritime bomber and patrol aircraft which dropped sonobuoys, designed to discover submarines, around the ship in the Norwegian Sea.The Ministry of Defence said the ageing Bears made a 'unsafe and unprofessional' low-level flypast of the warship on July 2 in the latest confrontation between Russian and Nato forces.Prince of Wales has served as the flagship of Operation Firecrest since sailing from Portsmouth in April, with the carrier strike group's headquarters based onboard.The strike group of 1,500 British personnel is currently deployed off Iceland under NATO's command in the High North to boost security in the region.Facing MPs today Mr Jarvis said: 'Russia poses a serious and serious threat to UK and European security in every domain.'Russia’s reckless military action involving Nato aircraft and airspace risk miscalculation and escalation, including their multiple reckless overflights of our aircraft carrier last week.' The Russian planes were intercepted and escorted away from the carrier vessel by two UK F-35 jets from HMS Prince of Wales (pictured)