MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/. Russia has lodged a strong protest with the Japanese embassy in Moscow over HIMARS multiple launch rocket system tests during a joint exercise with the United States near Russia's borders, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in news release on Wednesday.
"On October 12, a strong protest was expressed to the Japanese embassy in Moscow in connection with HIMARS multiple launch rocket system tests by the Japan Self-Defense Forces on October 10 as part of a joint military exercise with the United States at the Yausubetsu training ground (Hokkaido) near Russia’s borders," the Foreign Ministry said.
"We consider the military exercises that took place as a challenge to security in the Far Eastern region of our country and insist on the immediate cessation of such actions. The Japanese side was also warned of the inevitability of proportionate retaliatory measures to block military threats to Russia," the Foreign Ministry stressed.
When the training ground in question was created, the Japanese Foreign Ministry vowed that there were no plans to use it for testing such long-range weapons, the news release reads.
"We have before us another clear example of the real worth of Tokyo's official statements," the Foreign Ministry said. "Particularly bewildering is the fact that the Japanese media, whose representatives, as it has turned out, were admitted to the training ground, linked the exercise with what was described as ‘Russian aggression in Ukraine’."
According to the Kyodo news agency, 150 members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and about 40 US Marines redeployed from Okinawa took part in Monday's exercise. The participating contingents practiced coordination between and conducted firing with HIMARS systems, which Washington also supplies to Kiev.
The joint exercises are being held on October 1-14 at Japan's largest military training ground, Yausubetsu, in eastern Hokkaido. About 3,500 military personnel and tiltrotors MV-22 Osprey are taking part.