SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Russia says fired anti-ship missiles at mock target in Sea of Japan
Moscow, March 28 (AFP) Mar 28, 2023
Russia's defence ministry said Tuesday that its navy had fired test anti-ship missiles at mock targets in the Sea of Japan during military exercises.

Russia's Pacific Fleet drills came a week after Tokyo's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Ukraine.

Moscow holds regular drills off its Far East coast, but Tokyo said these were "increasing" and that it was "closely" monitoring Russian military activity in the area.

"In the waters of the Sea of Japan, missile boats of the Pacific Fleet fired Moskit cruise missiles at a mock enemy sea target," the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram early on Tuesday.

It said two ships took part in the exercise.

"The target, located at a distance of about 100 kilometres (62 miles), was successfully hit by a direct hit from two Moskit cruise missiles."

Moscow said its naval aviation oversaw the "safety of the combat exercise."

Russia has held such exercises before, firing test Moskit missiles in a similar drill last year.

But Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said that as Moscow's Ukraine offensive continues "the Russia military is increasing activity in the Far East, including areas near Japan".

"We will continue to monitor Russia's military movements closely," he said, quoted by the Jiji Press news agency.

He said there had been no reported damage from the test strikes.

Last week, Russia said two of its Tu-95 strategic bomber planes performed "flights in the airspace over neutral waters in the Sea of Japan."

The bomber jet flights came after Japan's Kishida visited Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

Japan has joined Western allies in sanctioning Russia over its offensive in Ukraine.

Russia's far eastern Pacific coast is separated from Japan by the narrow Sea of Japan.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
UK opens competitive bid for GBP 75 million orbital cleanup mission
UK invests $191 mn in European satellite firm Eutelsat
Bearings Used in Space Technologies: Engineering for the Final Frontier

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Atomic 6 receives 2M Space Force award to advance next generation solar arrays
ESA and Neuraspace develop autonomous satellite navigation technologies
Planet secures 240 million euro satellite services contract with German government

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
London, Paris tighten nuclear bond over US, Russia concerns
Iran says cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog will take 'new form'
Six killed in massive Russian drone, missile attack across Ukraine

24/7 News Coverage
Ancient zircon data reveals tectonic origin of Earth's first continental crust
Autonomous sub explores unexplored trench depths to reveal critical mineral clues
Europe launches first geostationary atmospheric sounder to boost extreme weather forecasts



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.