OREANDA-NEWS. The Japanese government protested to Seoul and Moscow because of the incident in the area of the disputed Takeshima (Dokdo) islands in the Sea of Japan, during which South Korean fighters were raised to intercept an aircraft of the Russian Federation Air Force. This was reported on Tuesday by the Japanese News Agency. “Such actions over our territory are unacceptable”, notes the Japanese government. Protests were transmitted through diplomatic channels. 

The Takeshima Islands are the subject of a dispute between Tokyo and Seoul. Japan claims that South Korea illegally occupied these territories included in the Japanese Empire in 1905. The South Korean authorities, like the DPRK leadership, claim that this tiny archipelago has historically always been part of the Korean state. Earlier, the armed forces of the Republic of Korea made the statement that three military aircraft of the Russian Federation and two Chinese Air Forces invaded the country's air defense identification zone in the morning.

The South Korean air defense identification zone covers not only the airspace of the country, but also partly the area belonging to international airspace. Despite this, the South Korean military demands to warn in advance about the intention to enter the identification zone and the objectives of the flight. Usually, if this doesn't happen, they pick up intercept aircraft, even in the absence of a violation of South Korea’s airspace.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation regularly emphasizes that the aircraft of the Russian Aerospace System of Russia fly in accordance with all international rules. On Tuesday, the defense ministry said that two Tu-95MS strategic bombers "carried out a planned flight in airspace over the neutral waters of the Sea of Japan" and didn't violate the borders of other states.