Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said a number of Japanese F-15 and F-35 fighter jets were scrambled and fired flares after a Russian naval aircraft ignored their warnings on Monday.
“This was the first declared Russian air incursion since June 2019,” the minister said, when a Tupolev 95 bomber entered Japanese airspace south of Okinawa and around the Izu Islands south of Tokyo.
He said, “The Russian plane violated Japanese airspace over Rebun Island (off the coast of the country’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido) 3 times during its 5-hour flight in the area.”
The Japanese minister added:Airspace violation “It is very unfortunate. We have protested to the Russian government through diplomatic channels and strongly urged them to prevent a recurrence of this.”
He considered that the use of illuminating missiles “was a legitimate response to the violation of airspace, and we plan to use it without hesitation.”
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Government officials were asked to respond “firmly and calmly” to the incident, in cooperation with US And other countries.
“We will refrain from giving any definitive information about the intent and purpose of this action, but the Russian military has been active in the vicinity of our country since the invasion of Ukraine,” which began in February 2022, he added.
