CAUTION:
Putin’s visit to the Kurils could have been a warning against deeper Japanese support for Ukraine and closer cooperation with NATO, analysts said
Japan yesterday said it had protested against Russia’s notification that Moscow would conduct missile tests off disputed islands visited by Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month.“We lodged a protest in response to the notification about the plan to conduct a missile test” off the Kuril Islands, known as the Northern Territories by Japan, a Japanese government spokesman said.Kyodo quoted Russia’s Pacific Fleet as saying that it had already conducted the missile test, although it was unclear when it took place.
Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi speaks in the lower house of parliament in Tokyo on July 27.
A unit equipped with the Bastion surface-to-ship missile system conducted the test, Kyodo quoted the Russian naval fleet as saying.The guided missile cruiser Varyag, the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, also took part in the test, along with the Omsk nuclear-powered submarine, it added.
