Japan scrambles fighters as Russian patrol aircraft circles

Japan scrambled fighters after two Tu-142 Russian maritime patrol aircraft flew along Japan's coast, Japan's Defense Ministry said Friday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian aircraft flew from the waters off Oki Island in Shimane Prefecture, western Japan, passing through the Tsushima Strait into the East China Sea, prompting the Air Self-Defense Force to scramble fighter jets, the ministry's Joint Staff (JCS) said in a press release. The Russian planes then passed between Okinawa Island and Miyako Island into the Pacific Ocean before flying north towards the continent from the waters off Hokkaido, according to the JCS. It was the first time since June 2019 that Russian military aircraft circled the Japanese archipelago. Source: Kuwait News Agency