Japan’s military responded by scrambling fighter jets and issuing radio and flare warnings, Minoru Kihara told reporters.
Tokyo, Japan: Japan lodged a “solemn protest” with Moscow after a Russian patrol plane entered its airspace three times, the defense minister said Monday, calling it the first confirmed incursion since 2019.
Japan’s Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters that the military responded by scrambling fighter jets and issuing radio and flare warnings.
“We confirmed today that a Russian Il-38 patrol aircraft has violated our airspace over our territorial waters north of Rebun Island, Hokkaido, on three occasions,” he said.
The airspace violation is deplorable, and today, we lodged a solemn protest with the Russian government via diplomatic channels and strongly urged them to prevent recurrence.
Japan has taken the side of the West on Ukraine, providing Kyiv with financial and material aid as well as imposing sanctions on Russian citizens and groups since Moscow invaded its neighbor.
Mr Kihara described it as “the first publicly announced airspace incursion by a Russian aircraft since June 2019,” when a Tu-95 bomber entered Japanese airspace in southern Okinawa and around the Izu Islands south of Tokyo.
According to the defense ministry, a plane identified but not confirmed as Russian on its way entered Japanese airspace last year.
Top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi also said yesterday that “we will refrain from giving any definitive information on the intent and purpose of this action, but the Russian military has been active in the vicinity of our country since the invasion of Ukraine.”.
