Japan scrambles jets after nuclear-capable Russian bombers fly nearby
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Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pledged on Oct 24 to accelerate a defence buildup, in her first speech to Parliament since taking office.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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- Japan scrambled jets to monitor Russian warplanes, including nuclear-capable bombers, flying near its airspace; the Ministry of Defence released a map of the flight path.
- Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, in her first speech, pledged to accelerate defence buildup amid "serious concern" over Russian, Chinese, and North Korean military activity.
- Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi stated, "Russia conducts daily military operations around our country while invading Ukraine," highlighting Japan's support for Ukraine.
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TOKYO - Japan said it scrambled jets on Oct 24 to monitor Russian warplanes, including strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons, which had flown along the edge of Japanese airspace up its coast.
Russia’s Defence Ministry, in a statement reported by state-owned RIA news agency, confirmed that its Tu-95 bombers had been escorted by jets from another country during what it described as a routine patrol flight over neutral waters.
The incident took place hours before Japan’s new prime minister, Ms Sanae Takaichi, pledged in her first speech to Parliament since taking office to accelerate a defence buildup.
Ms Takaichi said Russia’s military activities, along with those of China and North Korea, were posing a “serious concern”.
Japan’s Ministry of Defence released a map showing the flight path of the Russian planes off Japan’s west coast over the Sea of Japan.
It said the two Tu-95 bombers were accompanied by two Su-35 fighters and had initially flown towards Japan’s Sado Island before turning northwards.
“Russia conducts daily military operations around our country while invading Ukraine - this is the reality,” Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi wrote in an X post.
Ms Takaichi also touted Japan’s “special global partnership” with Ukraine in an X post, in which she praised Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and its people for their courage to “stand up against the aggression day by day”.
European countries have accused Russia in recent weeks of repeated incursions with drones and jets, most recently on Oct 23, when Nato-member Lithuania said Russian fighters had briefly flown into its airspace.
Moscow denied that its planes conducting exercises nearby had flown into Lithuanian airspace. REUTERS
