TOKYO: The Japanese Defense Ministry’s Joint Staff has said that a Russian navy intelligence ship sailed through the Tsugaru Strait between Japan’s Honshu main island and its northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, the fourth such journey by a Russian warship this year.

Although there are no legal issues with foreign ships passing through the Tsugaru Strait, which is an international strait, the Japanese ministry is currently analyzing the latest event as the Russian navy has frequently been seen operating in the area recently.

According to the ministry, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force spotted one Balzam-class intelligence ship sailing southeast some 90 kilometers south-southwest of the Hokkaido island of Okushiri at around 5 a.m. Thursday (8 p.m. Wednesday GMT).

The ship then proceeded to pass through the Tsugaru Strait to head east.

On Tuesday, the intelligence ship was spotted heading west through the Soya Strait between Cape Soya in Hokkaido and the Russian island of Sakhalin.

MSDF vessels and patrol aircraft had been monitoring the ship’s moves. The Russian ship did not breach Japanese territorial waters.

In October last year, Russian warships, together with Chinese navy vessels, passed through the Tsugaru Strait, marking the first such passage by a Russian navy vessel since 2019.

Russian warships sailed through the strait three times in March alone, with the ships believed to be transporting reinforcement units for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

JIJI Press