Japan’s general staff ordered fighter jets to take off after two Russian reconnaissance aircraft were detected, one in the Pacific Ocean and the other over the Sea of Japan, according to an official statement from Tokyo.
The incident is not unprecedented, but it happens a few days after the presence of the head of state of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, at the G7 summit that took place in Japan, which conveyed the support of the participating countries to the Kiev government.
Japan is applying the economic and financial sanctions against Russia adopted by the G7 and other Western countries following Russia’s new invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.
In May 2022, Russian and Chinese fighter jets flew together near Japan, shortly after a meeting in Tokyo of leaders of the informal Asia-Pacific security alliance that includes the United States, Japan, Australia and India.
More recently, Russia conducted naval maneuvers in the Sea of Japan that involved firing missiles.
Before the war in Ukraine, Japan already had a tense relationship with Russia.
The two countries never signed a peace treaty after the end of World War II (1939-1945), as all attempts in that direction were blocked by a territorial dispute over the southern Kuril Islands, occupied and annexed by Moscow after the conflict and which are considered by Japan to be the “Northern Territories”.
Source: DN
