Officials in Tokyo have confirmed that Japanese fighter jets were scrambled after a Russian warplane violated their airspace three times.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi announced during an emergency meeting on Monday that Russian warplanes violated airspace close to the Rebun Island in Hokkaido on three occasions between 1pm and 3pm Japanese time.
He said the incident is “deeply regrettable” and that Tokyo has lodged strong objections with Moscow.
Japanese fighter jets were deployed and they fired flares at the Russian warplanes which has cause anger in Moscow.
Since the Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine tensions between Tokyo and Moscow have escalated as a result.
Tokyo has heavily sanctioned Russia which has seen a large fall in trade particularly with Japanese cars which has decreased by 45%.
Japan has also significantly dropped coal trade to Russia by 67%.
Japan and Russia are locked in diplomatic battles over the contested “Northern Territories” as both claim the “disputed” region to be theirs.
In February this year the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that Japan “remains fully committed” in resolving the contested islands.
But the Russian President Dmitry Mevedev who is also deputy chairman of the Security Council, aggressively blasted, “We don’t give a damn about the ‘feelings of the Japanese’ concerning the so-called ‘Northern territories.’
“He asserted: “They’re not ‘disputed territories,’ but Russia.”
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