Russian military conducts drill on disputed Etorofu Island

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, July 6 Kyodo -
The Russian military conducted a drill on Etorofu, one of the four islands off
Hokkaido disputed between Japan and Russia, over the weekend, despite a request
by Japan not to do so, according to Russian military personnel.
A press officer in the military's Far East district told Kyodo News that the
drill conducted on Saturday and Sunday was ''the largest-scale exercise held on
the disputed islands since the collapse of Soviet Union'' in 1991.
It immediately drew criticism from Japan, with Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada
expressing ''deep regret'' over the military exercise.
Okada told reporters in Yokkaichi in central Japan's Mie Prefecture that Japan
cannot accept the use of a training camp on Etorofu Island by the Russian
military and has mounted a protest to Moscow through diplomatic channels.
''We have a different political standpoint (over the island) but such an
incident has never occurred before as far as we know. In that sense, it is
regrettable,'' Okada said. ''I wonder why they conducted the drill at this
time.''
According to an announcement dated Sunday by the Russian Defense Ministry, the
drill on Etorofu Island was part of the Vostok 2010 strategic exercises in the
Russian Far East and Siberia, which began June 29 and will continue through
Thursday.
The drill on Etorofu involved about 1,500 soldiers and a total of 200 military
vehicles and special-purpose vehicles, it said.
Okada warned Russia against holding a drill on the disputed island last Friday,
but a source at the Russian Foreign Ministry brushed aside the warning, telling
Itar-Tass news agency the same day that Russia ''has the right to choose the
place of exercises.''
About 10,000 servicemen are taking part in the drill, which also involves all
the fleets of Russia -- Pacific, North, Black Sea and Baltic -- as well as Air
Force units, according to the news agency.
Itar-Tass quoted Russian Armed Forces Gen. Nikolai Makarov, who is supervising
the exercises, as saying the drill is not targeted at any real country but
aimed at ensuring ''defense of national interests from a presumed enemy on the
Far Eastern borders.''
The bilateral row over the islands of Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and the
Habomai islet group has prevented the two countries from signing a post-World
War II peace treaty.
The four islands are known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia
as the Southern Kurils.
==Kyodo