Russian submarines fired missiles as part of a drill in the Sea of Japan, the Defense Ministry said Thursday, amid tensions between Moscow and Tokyo over Ukraine.
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“Pacific Fleet submarines fired ‘Kalibr’ cruise missiles at dummy enemy ships,” the Russian ministry said in a statement.
More than 15 ships took part in these maneuvers, including two submarines, the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and the Volkhov, which “fired cruise missiles from a submerged position in the Sea of Japan” and “successfully reached target,” he said.
The ministry released a video showing missiles propelled out of the water and rising skyward leaving trails of gray smoke behind them, while sailors communicate by radio.
These maneuvers take place in a context of heightened tensions between Russia and Japan, which notably announced an embargo on Russian coal in reaction to Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine.
Japan, a close ally of the United States, has complex relations with Russia. He did not sign a peace treaty with Moscow following World War II due to a dispute over four small islands in the Kuril archipelago, neighboring Hokkaido.
These islands had been taken by the Soviet army in the final days of the conflict and have never since been returned to Tokyo, which calls them the “Northern Territories”.
