MOSCOW: Russia has announced that it is conducting drills on islands claimed by Japan, just days after withdrawing from peace treaty talks in retaliation to Tokyo's decision to censure Moscow for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, according to the BBC.
Four islands, known in Russia as the Southern Kurils and in Japan as the Northern Territories, are the subject of a 70-year dispute between the two countries. As per BBC, Russia and Japan have failed to sign a post-World War II peace treaty due to the dispute.
Because of Tokyo's harsh position against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Russia said earlier this week that it was withdrawing from negotiations with Japan aimed at signing the treaty.
Now, Russia's Eastern Military District has announced that more than 3,000 troops and hundreds of pieces of army equipment will perform military training on the islands. Japan had already condemned Russia for pulling out of the peace negotiations and cancelling cooperation economic ventures involving the islands.
BBC reported, Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-serving postwar Prime Minister, has begun to say loudly and publicly that the country should think seriously and urgently about nuclear weapons.
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