Japan has lodged a protest after Russia announced it would hold a military exercise from this week in waters off an island claimed by Tokyo, the government said Monday as it held an event to demand the return of the island and several others also subject to a territorial dispute with Russia.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the protest was made last Thursday after Russia issued an alert saying it would hold target practice intermittently from Tuesday through March 1 in the sea southeast of Kunashiri Island.
Kunashiri is one of several disputed islands off Hokkaido called the Northern Territories by Tokyo and the Southern Kurils by Moscow.