Japan has promised not to fire on Russian civilian vessels anymore

The Japanese authorities are working to prevent a repeat of the situation when, at the end of May, civilian vessels were fired at without warning during exercises in the southern part of the Kuril Islands. About this at a press conference in Tokyo was announced by the Secretary General of the Japanese government, Yoshimasa Hayashi, according to TASS.

"We are busy taking all possible measures to ensure safety at sea, as well as to prevent such incidents," he said.

Hayashi added that no ships were seen in the incident area, and no damage was recorded.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that a strong protest was expressed to the Japanese Embassy in Moscow in connection with the training shooting, which posed a threat to navigation and the safety of citizens.

The shooting was carried out from the Kawagiri patrol boat of the Japan Maritime Security Directorate on May 23 in the open sea at a distance of 18.5 km northeast of Cape Shiretoko (Hokkaido Island). At the same time, no prior notification of foreign ships and vessels was made.

"Irresponsible actions of this kind in the immediate vicinity of the borders of the Russian Federation constitute an obvious violation of international law, pose direct risks to civilian shipping, life and health of Russian citizens and are categorically unacceptable," the Russian Foreign ministry said.

The note of the Russian Foreign Ministry addressed to Japan contains a requirement to provide a detailed explanation of what happened and take all necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future.