Russian fighters breach Japanese airspace: Tokyo

The planes were detected off the northern island of Hokkaido for just over a minute, shortly after Japan's new prime minister said he wanted to find a “mutually acceptable solution” to a decades-old territorial row between the two nations.

Japan's foreign ministry lodged a formal protest over what it said was an incursion by a pair of Russian Su-27 fighters.

“Today, around 3 p.m. (0600 GMT), military fighters belonging to (the) Russian Federation breached our nation's airspace above territorial waters off Hokkaido's Rishiri island,” the foreign ministry said.

If confirmed, it would be the first breach of Japanese airspace by Russia since February 2008, according to Japanese media reports.

However, Moscow denied any incursion had taken place, in a statement by the spokesman for the military command's eastern district, Roman Martov, given to Russian news agencies.

“Flights by the air force of the Pacific Fleet take place regularly in this region, in strict adherence to the international rules, without violation of state borders,” it said.

The alleged incident came hours after hawkish Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe — who swept to power in December with pledges to get tough on diplomacy — offered apparently conciliatory comments toward Moscow over the Russian-administered Southern Kurils, known as the Northern Territories in Japan.

Abe's tone was in marked contrast to his uncompromising stance on a dispute with Beijing over the sovereignty of a different set of disputed islands.

“There is no change in my resolve to do everything I can towards sealing a peace treaty with Russia after resolving the issue of the Northern Territories,” Abe said.

In December, Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to restart talks on signing a peace treaty formally ending the hostilities of World War II that has been stymied by the dispute.

“In the telephone talks, I told President Putin I would make efforts to find a mutually acceptable solution so as to ultimately solve the issue of the Northern Territories,” Abe told a government-backed rally of around 2,000 former islanders and their descendants in Tokyo.

Soviet forces seized the isles, which stretch out into rich fishing waters off the northern coast of Hokkaido, in the dying days of World War II and drove out Japanese residents.

The islands were later re-populated by Russians but remain a poor and undeveloped part of the country.

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3 Comments

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February 8, 2013    carltanong@

Reply

Fanatic Japanese every single word can't be trusted. Not only LYING, they revised her own history as a innocent War Criminals and "illegally island grabbing" of other nation.

That's the Bad Japanese fanatic cultural heritage.
Right ludahai(nippon)twn???

Kong Hei Fat Choi to u ludahai(nippon)twn. Will the White snake turn u into a Good Serpent and apologize to the innocent Wu's parents?

February 8, 2013    nw@

Reply

carltanong@ wrote:
Fanatic Japanese every single word can't be trusted. Not only LYING, they revised her own history as a innocent War Criminals and "illegally island grabbing" of other nation.

That's the Bad Japanese fanatic cultural heritage.
Right ludahai(nippon)twn???

Kong Hei Fat Choi to u ludahai(nippon)twn. Will the White snake turn u into a Good Serpent and apologize to the innocent Wu's parents?

Pointless rant.

February 9, 2013    andykcwong@

Reply

Soviet big brother comes to help the step brother again to show the World he still wants to be a big brother.
But never care about Soviet own people.
DateRoc102J20130209Sat23256SydAusTimDowLoa


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