Japan is closely following Russia's military capacities boosting, including in the Far East, and the expansion of Russia's military presence in the Kurils, according to Japan's 2019 Defense White Paper
TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th September, 2019) Japan is closely following Russia's military capacities boosting, including in the Far East, and the expansion of Russia's military presence in the Kurils, according to Japan's 2019 Defense White Paper.
The new edition of the annual Defense White Paper was presented to the Japanese government at a cabinet session on Friday.
"Russia appears to be stepping up military activities not only in the Arctic, Europe, areas near the United States, and the middle East, but also in the Far East, so close scrutiny of developments in this regard will be required. The number of scrambles against Russian aircraft in the Far East has remained high. In addition, Russian aircraft intruded into Japan's territorial airspace in June and July 2019," the document read.
Concerns over Russian military buildup in the Kurils were also reflected in the document.
"Regarding the Northern Territories [Kuril Islands], Russia announced that it deployed surface-to-ship missiles to Etorofu and Kunashiri Islands in 2016. It is reported that three Su-35 fighter aircraft were deployed in Etorofu Island in 2018, showing a military build-up by Russia," the document specified.
Meanwhile, the Vostok-2018 military exercise, held through Siberia and the Far East, was also mentioned, with a special focus on its scale.
"In the large-scale Vostok 2018 exercise, in addition to units of the [Russian] Eastern Military District, units of the Central Military District and the Northern Fleet participated. Notable features of this year's exercise were that the size was considered the largest since the time of the Soviet Union, and that China and Mongolia participated for the first time," the document read.
However, the White Paper focused on the Russian-Japanese defense cooperation as well, praising Japanese defense minister's first visit to Russia, held in July 2018, as well as talks between the countries' defense and foreign ministers, held in July 2018 and in May of this year.
Russian-Japanese relations have long been complicated by the fact that the two nations have not signed a permanent peace treaty after World War II, as there are still contradictions over a group of four Kuril islands that Russia has sovereignty over, but are also claimed by Japan.
