Russian Military Exercises Put 2 Nations on Edge
The Russian military held air exercises near Norway and Japan on Wednesday, causing fighter jets in both countries to scramble and eliciting a strong protest from Tokyo.
In Tokyo, the Foreign Ministry called in a Russian diplomat and complained, and the Japan Defense Agency said Moscow’s planes violated the nation’s airspace twice.
Defense official Koichiro Oshima said that four planes, including TU-22 bombers, were spotted late Wednesday morning off the island of Rebun and that two TU-22 bombers were seen later in the same area. Each time, the planes flew over Japanese airspace for about three minutes, Oshima said.
Japanese fighter jets scrambled toward the Russian warplanes, but no encounter occurred, Oshima said.
“We again analyzed all the actions of our pilots, and there were no violations of Japan’s airspace,” Russian Defense Minister Igor D. Sergeyev said.
Strategic bombers also flew along the coast of Norway, another neighbor of Russia. Norwegian officials called it an unusual event but said the planes remained in international airspace.
Norwegian fighters scrambled and identified the two aircraft as supersonic TU-160 Blackjack bombers.
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