<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Russia's defence ministry said Tuesday that its navy had fired test anti-ship missiles at mock targets in the Sea of Japan during military exercises.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia's Pacific Fleet drills came a week after Tokyo's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Ukraine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"In the waters of the Sea of Japan, missile boats of the Pacific Fleet fired Moskit cruise missiles at a mock enemy sea target," the ministry said on Telegram early on Tuesday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It said two ships took part in the exercise.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The target, located at a distance of about 100 kilometres (62 miles), was successfully hit by a direct hit from two Moskit cruise missiles."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moscow said its naval aviation oversaw the "safety of the combat exercise."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last week, Russia said two of its Tu-95 strategic bomber planes performed "flights in the airspace over neutral waters in the Sea of Japan."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The bomber jet flights came after Japan's Kishida visited Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Japan has joined Western allies in sanctioning Russia over its offensive in Ukraine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia's far eastern Pacific coast is separated from Japan by the narrow Sea of Japan. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>