TOKYO: Japan scrambled fighter jets Thursday after Russian “intelligence-gathering” aircraft were detected off its coasts along the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Japan, the country’s Joint Staff said.

One Russian aircraft travelled from Japan’s north down along part of its west coast, while the other took a similar route along the opposite coast and returned the same way, the Joint Staff said in a brief statement.

“In response, fighters of the Air Self-Defense Force’s Northern Air Force and other units were scrambled,” it added.

AFP