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Tensions between Japan and Russia have risen after the Russian Defence Ministry deployed a coastal missile system in Paramushir, precisely in the archipelago located between the northeastern end of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō and the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka.
“Coastal servicemen of the Pacific Fleet will keep a round-the-clock watch to control the adjacent water area and strait zones,” it announced.
The ministry explained that an autonomous military camp has been installed on the island and “for the operation and maintenance of the equipment, technical structures and warehouses have been installed”, in addition to personnel offices.
The Kuril Islands are a small archipelago historically disputed between Japan and Russia and located between the Japanese island of Hokkaido and the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka.
Russia was preparing to attack Japan in the summer of 2021, months before President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This was revealed by an email containing a letter from a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) informant, shared with Newsweek.
The email, dated March 17, was sent by the agent, dubbed the Wind of Change, to Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian human rights activist who runs the anti-corruption website Gulagu.net, and is now exiled in France.
Igor Sushko, the executive director of the Wind of Change Research Group, a Washington-based nonprofit organisation, has been translating the correspondence from Russian into English since it began on March 4. He shared all emails in full with Newsweek.
READ MORE: Putin’s end ‘coming much faster’ as Russian leader damaged himself
Japan also agreed to a $60-per-barrel price cap and ban on some types of Russian oil on Monday.
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday set a new target for military spending over the next five years to 43 trillion yen ($318 billion), or 1.5 times the current level, as the country seeks defense buildup including the use of preemptive strike.
Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Kishida told him and Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki to work on a budget plan to increase Japan’s 2023-2027 military spending by more than 50 percent from 27.5 trillion yen.
The planned increase is “to firmly secure the necessities to pursue substantial reinforcement” of Japan’s defence, Hamada said.
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