Pacific Fleet of the Russian Federation in drills concerning Sakhalin and Kurils (Japan)
Sawako Utsumi, Sawako Uchida, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The Russian Federation military drills concerning the Sea of Okhotsk, Sakhalin, and the Southern Kuril Islands serve a natural dual purpose. They enhance the military combat response mechanisms of the Russian Federation- while reminding Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, who is implementing an anti-China and anti-Russian Federation foreign policy, that its military is focused on defending its national sovereignty irrespective of in Europe or Northeast Asia.
TASS News reports, “The inspection commanded by Navy Commander-in-Chief Nikolay Yevmenov will also involve a part of the Russian Aerospace Forces and logistic support units. The drills are aimed at raising the Russian forces’ preparedness for “repelling a potential enemy’s aggression from oceanic and maritime directions” and will also focus on practicing the operations of strategic nuclear-powered missile-carrying submarines.”
The former leader of Japan, Shinzo Abe, who was brutally assassinated, sought cordial relations with the Russian Federation. Accordingly, after Crimea reverted to the Russian Federation, Abe maintained positive relations with President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation.
However, Kishida is hostile to the Russian Federation while never failing to mention the threat of China at the drop of a G7 hat. This pro-American policy of Kishida – even potent by the pro-American angle of past administrations – is putting Japan in a difficult situation in Northeast Asia based on the failings of the Kishida administration.
Neither China nor the Russian Federation seeks a hostile relationship with Japan.
Sergey Shoigu, the Defense Minister of the Russian Federation, said, the drills are aimed at “building up the capabilities of the Armed Forces for coping with the objectives of repelling a potential enemy’s aggression from oceanic and maritime directions.”
It is worth recalling that Japan sought to expand its empire during World War Two (Pacific War). If victorious – then similar to the occupation of China and the Korean Peninsula – other lands would have been occupied and governed by the ruling elites in Tokyo.
Technically, the region belongs to the indigenous communities that roamed this region.
Hokkaido and the Kingdom of Okinawa (Ryukyu) were only incorporated in Japan (fully) during the early Meiji Period (1868-1912).
Shinzo Abe (unlike Kishida) before he was brutally assassinated in Japan said (concerning the conflict in Europe), “Maybe the war could have been avoided if Zelensky had been forced to pledge that his country would not join NATO, or had been forced to grant a high degree of autonomy to Luhansk and Donetsk in the east…”
It is hoped that after the leadership of Kishida ends – and providing a more neutral leader takes office – that Japan and the Russian Federation can follow the legacy of Abe. Henceforth, mutual accommodation and improving ties between both nations.
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