Posted
2/09/2008 07:00:00 PM
by Douglas
This doesn't sound like it's going to end
well.A Russian air force bomber briefly violated Japanese airspace over an uninhabited island just south of Tokyo on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said.
The three-minute flyby over Sofugan in the Izu island chain by a Tupolev 95 ended following warnings by Japanese air force fighter jets, said Foreign Ministry official Kotaro Otsuki.
The ministry immediately lodged a protest with the Russian Embassy in Tokyo and demanded an explanation, Otsuki said.
A switchboard operator at the embassy said no one was available to comment Saturday.
Japan's navy scrambled 22 fighter jets, including F-15s, and two airborne warning and control aircraft known as AWACs, a Defense Ministry official said on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.
Russian bombers, over-flying your country? That's going to end well.