One crew member was killed and another seriously injured after a nuclear-capable bomber aircraft skidded off a runway and caught fire at a military air base in Russia's Far East on Monday, the Interfax news agency reported.

The Tu-95 bomber, known in NATO parlance as Russia's "Bear" bomber, was on a training operation, Interfax quoted Russia's defense ministry as saying.

The ministry was quoted saying the plane was not carrying nuclear weapons at the time. It said all flights are suspended while an investigation takes place.

The incident took place at Russia's Ukrainka military facility in Amur province, about 1,000 km northwest of Sapporo, Interfax said.

The news agency quoted a local medical facility as saying that burns specialists were dispatched to treat a total of five injured crew members.