MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday two Russian strategic bombers – those capable of carrying nuclear warheads – carried out routine patrol flights over the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea, off Russia’s Far East, TASS news agency reported.
Japan’s defence ministry later said in a statement that it had scrambled a jet fighter in response to Russian information-gathering aircraft over the Sea of Japan.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Monday that Tokyo had lodged a protest with Russia over its military exercises around disputed islands near Japan’s Hokkaido.
The incident took place on the final day of the Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Japan, during which the group agreed Russia must withdraw all troops in Ukraine unconditionally.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Christina Fincher)
