Russia has put its Pacific naval fleet on high alert as part of a surprise inspection aimed at building its defensive capabilities, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday.
The drill will also simulate an enemy landing on Russia's Sakhalin island and on its southern Kuril Islands, some of which are claimed by Japan, which calls them the Northern Territories, in a territorial dispute dating back to the end of World War II.
"The main objective of this inspection is to increase the ability of the Armed Forces to repel the aggression of a probable enemy from the direction of ocean and sea," Shoigu said on state television.
Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov said Russia's naval forces would be deployed to training areas and would carry out combat exercises as part of the drill.