Mar 15 (Japan Times) - Six Russian Navy vessels have passed through the Soya Strait between Cape Soya in Hokkaido and the Russian island of Sakhalin, the government’s top spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, told a news conference Tuesday.
The Japanese government conveyed to Moscow that it is closely monitoring the Russian military’s growing activities in areas around Japan amid the Ukraine crisis, while expressing grave concern over the moves, Matsuno said.
“The Russian military has been carrying out extraordinary naval drills on a large scale in the Sea of Okhotsk and other areas since February in conjunction with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and the six vessels are believed to have participated in the drills,” Matsuno said.
“We’ll collect information (on the incident) and be on alert,” he said.
According to the Defense Ministry, the Maritime Self-Defense Force spotted the six ships at a point some 130 kilometers southeast of Cape Soya, the northernmost point in Hokkaido, at around midnight Sunday. ...continue reading
Source: ANNnewsCH
