Japan says Russian jets intruded in its airspace

Tokyo's claim coincides with Japan's annual 'Northern Territories Day,' during which rallies are held to urge Russia to return several islands the Soviet Union seized during World War II.

|
Koji Sasahara/AP
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, delivers his speech during a national rally marking Northern Territories Day in Tokyo today. Japan says that two Russian jets intruded on its airspace today, the same day that Japan held its annual call on Russia to return several disputed islands that were seized by the Soviet Union in World War II. The banner on the wall reads: 'Return the four northern islands.'

Japan's Defense Ministry said two Russian fighter jets briefly intruded Thursday into Japanese airspace as the country was holding rallies demanding that Moscow return a group of disputed islands.

Japan's Foreign Ministry lodged a protest with the Russian Embassy in Tokyo. Russia, however, denied any border violation.

The incident occurred as Japan was observing "Northern Territories Day," when it holds annual rallies urging Moscow to return the islands, seized by the Soviet Union in the final days of World War II.

Defense Ministry official Yoshihide Yoshida said Japanese air force jets scrambled after an intrusion by two Su-27 jets which lasted just over a minute.

Mr. Yoshida said it was not immediately known whether the incident was intentional or accidental, but that it was "extremely problematic." The last intrusion by Russian jets in Japanese airspace was on Feb. 9, 2008, he said.

In Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement denying any intrusion. It said Russian military aircraft taking part in a military exercise in the area flew in "strict conformity with international rules without any border violations."

It was not immediately clear whether the incident off the northwestern tip of Japan's Hokkaido island was related to Northern Territories Day.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a government-sponsored rally in Tokyo that he will do his utmost to resolve the territorial dispute, which has kept the two nations from signing a peace treaty officially ending their hostilities in World War II.

Soviet troops captured the islands off Hokkaido's eastern coast in the waning days of the war, forcing about 17,000 Japanese residents to be deported over the next few years. About 17,000 people, mostly Russians, live there now.

Japan says a treaty dating back to Feb. 7, 1855, supports its claim to the islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.

They lie as close as six miles to Hokkaido and are also near undisputed Russian territory. The islands are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and are believed to have offshore oil and natural gas reserves, plus gold and silver deposits.

Addressing former Japanese residents of the islands and others gathered in a large Tokyo concert hall, Mr. Abe said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin in December that he wants to settle the dispute. Abe plans to send former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori as a special envoy to Russia this month, but prospects for progress on the issue are uncertain.

"We aim to finally resolve the problem with Russia on the disputed islands and realize the signing of a peace treaty," Abe said in a brief speech before being whisked back to parliamentary proceedings.

In 2010, former President Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian or Soviet leader to visit the islands, triggering sharp rebukes from Tokyo. He visited a second time last July.

More than half of the former Japanese residents of the islands have died in the 68 years since the Russians took control.

"My birthplace is right in front of me, but I can't return" to live there, said Choriki Sugawara, a 79-year-old man who recalled happy memories growing up on the island of Kunashir — called Kunashiri in Japan — in a fishing family of eight.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Japan says Russian jets intruded in its airspace
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0207/Japan-says-Russian-jets-intruded-in-its-airspace
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe