Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi described Russia's denial of an alleged airspace violation late last month as "extremely regrettable" during a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
Moscow had earlier claimed one of its military aircraft did not violate Japanese airspace near the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, with Maria Zakharova, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Department, telling an online press conference on Wednesday that Moscow could not confirm the alleged flight over waters in the Sea of Japan by an IL-38 patrol plane on Sept 23.
In the Russian government's first official comment on the suspected airspace breach, the ministry spokeswoman said Moscow had rejected Japan's protest, which had been made through diplomatic channels.
Japan has alleged the Russian aircraft intruded the nation's airspace north of Rebun Island three times, with each intrusion lasting about 30 seconds to one minute, prompting Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets to fire a signal flare for the first time.
Japan-Russia relations have worsened since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Tokyo has implemented economic sanctions on Moscow in lockstep with Washington and other like-minded countries.
Japan also confirmed in August a Chinese military spy plane violated Japanese airspace for the first time, saying it flew over waters in the East China Sea off islands in Nagasaki Prefecture in southwestern Japan.
© KYODO
6 Comments
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Moonraker
Time to get out the proof maybe. But then Russia could say it was fabricated. If the violator does not come clean, what can you do? Russia, after all, has made it its nihilistic, national mission to subvert all truth.
Eastmann
show proof than lets talk.
Moonraker
And right on cue.
Some dude
Japan has to get used to the fact (if they're not already aware of it) that everything that Russia says is a lie. Everything.
OssanAmerica
Stop buying seafood imports from Russia FFS.
JJE
Seafood imports from Russia are critical to propping up family-run seafood distributors, particularly in Hokkaido and the north. They'd be shooting themselves in the foot.
No evidence provided and this is nothing but a harmless maritime monitoring craft, clearly in La Pérouse Strait.
Wouldn't be surprised if Tokyo's radars are completely bonkers and out of whack. Same thing happened with Poland; their NATO radars are showing all sorts of things that turn out to be figments of their imagination.