Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday vowed to “resolutely defend Japan’s territory” as Tokyo lodged a protest with Moscow after a Russian patrol plane entered its airspace.
The military responded by scrambling fighter jets, and issuing radio and flare warnings, Japanese Minister of Defense Minoru Kihara told reporters, calling it the first confirmed incursion since 2019.
“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,” Kihara said on Monday. “Today we lodged a very serious protest with the Russian government via diplomatic channels and strongly urged them to prevent a recurrence.”
Photo: Reuters
Kishida, speaking to Japanese media in New York, called the incident “extremely regrettable.”
“We will resolutely defend Japan’s territory, territorial waters and airspace,” he said.
Japan has supported the Western position on Ukraine, providing Kyiv with financial and material support, and sanctioning Russian individuals and organizations after Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor.
Kishida on Monday met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Zelenskiy thanked Kishida for his support since Russia’s invasion and conferred upon him a top Ukrainian order of merit, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Kihara said the new incident was “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.
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