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Japanese jets flew 300 sorties since April ready to intercept Russian planes — DM

Japanese Defense Ministry claims that from April till September Russian planes approached Japan’s airspace on 324 occasions

© EPA Archive/HITOSHI MAESHIRO

TOKYO, October 15. /TASS/. Japan’s Self-Defense Air Force ordered its planes into the air 300 times in April through September to intercept Russian military planes, the Japanese Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry argues that during the reviewed period Russian planes approached Japan’s airspace on 324 occasions. The latest such incident occurred on October 6, when Russia’s front-line bomber Sukhoi-24 flew over the Sea of Japan along the coastline of the Honshu island without intruding into the Japanese airspace.

China’s Air Force was second by the scale of activity in the region. Japanese planes simulated their interception 207 times. In all, the Japanese Self-Defense Air Force flew 533 sorties over the reviewed six-month period, more than in any other year since 2003.

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan