TOKYO: The Russian military has conducted drills on two of the four northwestern Pacific islands claimed by Japan as part of its Vostok 2022 large-scale exercises, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday.

The drills on Etorofu and Kunashiri come in defiance of a warning from Japan that the actions are incompatible with its position and totally unacceptable. Saturday is the day that celebrates the former Soviet Union’s victory over Japan in World War II.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin has said that the Vostok 2022 exercises in Russia’s Eastern Military District are not directed against any specific countries or military alliances.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to attend the exercises when he travels to Vladivostok Tuesday. The exercises started on Thursday and will be held through Wednesday.

The four islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan, were seized by the former Soviet Union from Japan at the end of the war.

Moscow unilaterally suspended territorial talks with Tokyo on the islands in March in protest against Japanese sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

JIJI Press