Russian Federation Protests Japanese-United States Military Exercise on Hokkaido

This morning, the Russian Foreign Ministry submitted an official complaint to the Japanese government over its military exercises on the island of Hokkaido in Northern Japan. In the last two months, the Japanese Self Defense Forces have hosted thousands of American and Australian troops in Hokkaido. In October, exercise RESOLUTE DRAGON was held, with more than 3,300 U.S. Marines and 6,000 JSDF troops. On December 12th, a Command and Control Exercise was concluded throughout Japan with a large number of Australian and American planners also on Hokkaido. While these exercises did not name a specific threat, the Japanese government has a vested interest in enhancing security here due to recent overflights of North Korean ICBMs and Russian and Chinese naval activity near the Kuril Islands.