(Reuters) – Two Russian strategic bombers flew over the Sea of Japan for more than seven hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, released as the Japanese prime minister begins a visit to Ukraine.
Moscow regularly flies Tupolev Tu-95MS, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, over international waters in the Arctic, North Atlantic and Pacific as a show of force.
This flight comes as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is due to travel to Kyiv later to show his solidarity with Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky in the war between him and Russia.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed the Prime Minister boarding a train in the Polish town of Przemysl, near the Ukrainian border.
Russia said the strategic bombers made a “planned flight”, escorted by fighter jets.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, this flight was carried out in strict compliance with international law and over neutral waters.
In February, North American air defense forces were sent to intercept several Russian strategic bombers and fighter jets flying over international airspace near Alaska.
Japan, which since the end of World War II has had its own territorial dispute with Moscow in the North Pacific, is a key US ally in Asia as well as a member of the G7, and has joined Western sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
Fumio Kishida’s trip to Ukraine also coincides with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Moscow.
(Written by Caleb Davis and Mark Trevelyan, French version Nathan Vifflin, editing by Diana Mandiá and Kate Entringer)
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