TOKYO: Japanese fighter jets fired warning flares against a Russian military aircraft that Tokyo said repeatedly entered the country’s territorial airspace, in an unprecedented move against a foreign plane.
A Russian IL-38 military patrol aircraft entered Japanese airspace three times near the northern island of Hokkaido on Monday (Sept 23), the Defence Ministry in Tokyo said.
Japan scrambled fighter jets to warn off the aircraft through radio messages and fired flares during the final encroachment. Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi (pic) told reporters it was the first use of flares against an airborne intruder.
Hayashi said Japan issued a diplomatic protest against the incursions. Russian state media had no immediate report on the incident, which came after Russian and Chinese warships sailed together around Japan’s northern coast.
The incursions also occurred on the same day Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in New York.
Russia and Japan have a territorial dispute over Russian-held islands near Hokkaido that were seized from Japan in the final days of World War II. Russian aircraft occasionally enter Japanese airspace, prompting Japan to scramble fighter jets in response.
Last month, a Chinese military aircraft breached Japanese airspace for the first time. - Bloomberg
