Two Russian patrol planes entered airspace above the Sea of Japan earlier this week, causing a temporary suspension of joint drills being conducted by the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military, government officials said Wednesday.
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Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said at a news conference that Japan immediately scrambled fighter jets to the area off the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, but declined to give further details due to the sensitivity of the matter.
An official of Russia's Pacific Fleet acknowledged later in the day that the two patrol planes, which belong to the Vladivostok-based fleet, entered the airspace, Interfax news agency reported.
But it quoted the official as saying Russia did not contravene international law as the flights took place as planned in a region where the Pacific Fleet operates on a daily basis.
According to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo, the two II-38 patrol planes entered the airspace Monday morning and remained in the area for several hours while the SDF and U.S. military were engaged in drills designed to deal with a ballistic missile attack.
The drills were based on a scenario in which Japanese and U.S. Aegis destroyers equipped with Standard Missile-3 interceptors were attacked by fighter jets, but the destroyers were at the time docked at the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Maizuru base in Kyoto Prefecture, mainly for refueling purposes.
Due to the presence of the Russian planes, the drills were temporarily halted for security reasons, and planes including Air Self-Defense Force F-15 fighters were scrambled.
Sengoku, the top government spokesman, would not comment on how the government will handle the issue and whether it will protest through diplomatic channels over the Russian aircraft incursion.
Close communication with the United States will continue regardless of what U.S. diplomatic cables related to Japan may be released by the confidential communications-revealing website WikiLeaks, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said Wednesday after talks in the morning with U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos.
During their meeting, in which they discussed issues related to the relocation of a U.S. military base in Okinawa and the WikiLeaks fallout, Sengoku said he and Roos agreed to maintain close communication "to avoid creating suspicion" in bilateral ties.
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