This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
A Russian submarine has successfully launched a Kalibr cruise missile from the Sea of Japan at a land target more than 1,000 kilometers away, Russian news agencies reported on December 21.
The diesel-electric submarine Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky hit a target located at a Russian training ground onshore, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Russia’s Pacific Fleet said the exercise also included covert movement and support from navy vessels, aircraft, and drones.
Japan continues to assert territorial rights to the Kurile Islands in the nearby Sea of Okhotsk. Japan calls the islands the Northern Territories. Soviet troops seized them from Japan at the end of World War II.
The dispute has kept Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty formally ending the war.
