A dangerous development in the conflict between Russia and Japan: The Russian Navy fired supersonic missiles against ships, as part of a large exercise held in recent days. The spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the medium-range missiles were launched at a simulated enemy target at a distance of 100 km. The missiles that managed to hit the target, according to the spokesman, can also carry nuclear warheads.
The exercise was held about 700 km from the Japanese island of Hokkaido, a fact that only exacerbated tensions with Japan, which claims that part of the Kuril Islands controlled by Russia belong to it.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said that his country is carefully monitoring Russia’s military maneuvers. “With the continuation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces are becoming more active in the Far East,” he added.
Next month, the Japanese will host in Hiroshima the summit of the seven most industrialized countries in the world, from which Russia was expelled following the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
On another issue: A White House spokesman said that the US has informed Russia that it will not share information about its nuclear power with Russia. The announcement comes as a response to Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the new nuclear arms control treaty.