Japan has lodged a diplomatic protest over Russian military exercises taking place around the disputed southern Kuril Islands, Japanese media reported Wednesday.
Russia’s Defense Ministry announced the military drills on Tuesday, saying they will involve 60 warships, 30 aircraft and more than 13,000 servicemen in the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk and the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
According to the Sankei Shimbun newspaper, Russia notified Japanese officials that it will hold multi-day live-fire exercises around two of the four Kuril Islands, which Tokyo claims as its Northern Territories.
Russia also designated maritime exclusion zones around the remaining two islands for drills running through Aug. 29, along with missile test warnings through Aug. 6, the newspaper added.
Japan protested the exercises through diplomatic channels, saying that it “cannot accept” Russia’s actions to bolster its military presence around the disputed islands, which are administered by Russia as part of its Far Eastern Sakhalin region
