Japan lodges ‘serious protests’ with Russia over airspace ‘violation’ by Kremlin plane
This marks the first confirmed incursion since 2019, amid escalating tensions post-Ukraine invasion
Japan lodged a “very serious protest” with Moscow after a Russian patrol plane entered its airspace three times, the defence minister said Monday, calling it the first confirmed incursion since 2019.
The military responded by scrambling fighter jets and issuing radio and flare warnings, Minoru Kihara told reporters.
“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,” he said.
“The airspace violation is extremely regrettable, and today we lodged a very serious protest with the Russian government via diplomatic channels and strongly urged them to prevent a recurrence.”
Japan has supported the Western position on Ukraine, providing Kyiv with financial and material support and sanctioning Russian individuals and organisations after Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.
Kihara said it 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.
In 2023, an aircraft believed but not confirmed to be Russian entered Japanese airspace, according to the defence ministry.