The Japanese government sent a strong diplomatic protest to Russia over the incursion of a Moscow military aircraft into its airspace north of the archipelago on Monday (23), while Russia and China carry out joint maneuvers in the region.
Russian Ilyushin Il-38 maritime patrol aircraft penetrated airspace up to three times near Japan’s Rebun island in the Sea of Japan and near the northern island of Hokkaido, executive branch spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told local media.
Tokyo “has conveyed a strong protest to Russia through diplomatic channels” and urged the neighboring country “to do its utmost to prevent the recurrence of such incidents,” the Japanese spokesman added.
Japan’s Self-Defense Forces responded by sending in its fighter jets, which dropped a flare-like device to warn Russian aircraft of their intrusion, the Defense Ministry said.
The raid took place between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm local time (between 1:00 am and 3:00 am in Brasília) this Monday, the same day that joint naval exercises between China and Russia in the Sea of Japan entered their second phase, in which warships from both countries will conduct practices with live ammunition.
The drills will include scenarios such as maritime and air escort, warning and defense, air and missile defense and live-fire artillery exercises, according to Chinese media.
Tokyo has been denouncing the recent intensification of naval and air maneuvers by China and Russia around its territory, which has included several incidents, such as the most recent one, in which Japanese airspace was violated.
In August, a Chinese military intelligence aircraft briefly violated Japanese national airspace, the first such violation in the archipelago by an aircraft from the Asian giant.
On the 12th, Japan sent fighter jets from its Self-Defense Forces in response to maneuvers carried out by two Russian aircraft, which approached the disputed territory between the two countries in the north of the Japanese archipelago.
Much of this military activity has taken place around the disputed Senkaku Islands (administered by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing, which calls them Diaoyu) or, as in the current case, north of Japan, where the Kuril Islands are located.
Four islands of the Kuril archipelago, comprising 56 islands and islets, were occupied by Russia during World War II and the dispute over their sovereignty is the main obstacle in bilateral relations.
In 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan signed a declaration resuming diplomatic relations and establishing the standards to be met by the parties for the signing of the peace treaty, including a clause on the return of two of the islands, although this has not been fulfilled since.
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