OREANDA-NEWS  The Russian Foreign Ministry has protested to the Japanese Embassy over plans to conduct military exercises near the Russian borders on the island of Hokkaido. This is stated in a message on the official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"The Russian side regards such provocative military activity near Russia's Far Eastern borders as a potential threat to national security and considers it categorically unacceptable," the ministry stressed.

Earlier, Japan protested to Russia in connection with the suspension of the rights of passage of foreign vessels in the area of the Southern Kuril Islands.