Joint Event between Russia’s Baltic Fleet and Japanese Navy Mooted

FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Joint Event between Russia’s Baltic Fleet and Japanese Navy Mooted

Aug. 2, 2018 (EIRNS)—Japan’s Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera held talks in St. Petersburg yesterday with Acting Commander of the Forces of Russia’s Western Military District, Lt. Gen. Viktor Astapov, TASS reports. Their discussion included defense cooperation and plans for joint events in which the Western Military District and ships of the Baltic Fleet would take part.

Before their talks, Onodera visited the main base of the Baltic Fleet in Kronstadt, a historic fortress on Kotlin Island in the Gulf of Finland. “This was the first-ever visit to the place by a Japanese Defense Minister,” observed TASS. The Baltic Fleet is one of the five Russian fleets. The others are the Black Sea, Caspian, Northern, and Pacific Fleets.

On July 31, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had held consultations in the two-plus-two format with Onodera and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.