Days after Moscow halted peace talks with Japan because of its sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Japanese media said on Saturday Russia was conducting drills on islands claimed by Tokyo.
Russia’s Interfax news agency said on Friday that Russia’s Eastern Military District was conducting military drills on the Kuril islands with more than 3,000 troops and hundreds of pieces of army equipment.
However, it did not say where on the island chain, connecting Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula and Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, the drills were taking place.
Japanese media said they were on territory the Soviet Union seized at the end of World War Two that is claimed by Tokyo.
The territorial dispute over the four islets — which Russia says are part of its Kuril chain and which Japan calls its Northern Territories — has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from reaching a peace treaty formally ending hostilities.
