Two Russian fighter jets breach Japanese airspace: Tokyo

TOKYO (AFP) - Two Russian fighter jets violated Japanese airspace on Thursday with Tokyo scrambling jets in response, the defence ministry said.

The Russian planes were detected off the coast of northernmost Hokkaido island for just over a minute, shortly after Japan's new prime minister said he wants to find a "mutually acceptable solution" to a decades-old territorial row with Russia and sign a long-delayed peace treaty with Moscow.

Japan's foreign ministry lodged a formal protest over the incursion by a pair of Russian SU-27 fighters at about 3:00 pm local time (0600 GMT).

"Today, around 3:00 pm, military fighters belonging to Russian Federation breached our nation's airspace above territorial waters off Rishiri island in Hokkaido," the foreign ministry said.