Russia threatens countermeasures over Japanese exercises with NATO countries

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Russia on Friday expressed discontent and warned Japan of countermeasures over Japanese plans to hold military exercises near the Russian border that will also include Spain, France and Germany.

Russian diplomacy revealed in a statement that it had alerted the Japanese side about the unacceptable nature of the “provocative military activities”close to Russia’s borders in the Far East with non-NATO members from that region.

“We consider these activities a potential threat to the security of the Russian Federation“, can be read in the note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Moscow has warned Tokyo against “appropriate countermeasures” aimed at strengthening Russian defensive capabilities and protecting its sovereignty.

The Ministry of Defense of Japan announced this Tuesday that the country’s Air Force will carry out joint maneuvers next July with Spain, France and Germany, within the framework of the European defense initiative ‘Pacific Skies’.

The exercises will take place from July 19 to 25 and aim to “deepen close collaboration with these countries in realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said at a press conference.

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As part of this initiative, 28 fighter aircraft and 16 large tanker and transport aircraft, all developed by the European defence industry, will travel some 58,000 kilometres from Alaska to India in the Indo-Pacific region for nearly two months.

The maneuvers with the participation of French forces will take place in Ibaraki (north of Tokyo), while the exercises with Germany and Spain will take place around the Chitose base, on the island of Hokkaido (north of Japan), the Ministry explained. of Japanese Defense. Defending.