Russia and Japan will hold joint naval exercises in the Far East, said Russian Defence Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu after talks between the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries during "two-plus-two" meeting, says press center of RF Defence Ministry.
“We agreed to strengthen ties in the naval sphere. We will continue the practice of conducting joint search and rescue exercises at sea. The next SAREX Russian-Japanese exercise will take place in June in the waters of Peter the Great Gulf, ” explained Sergei Shoigu in an interview with journalists.
“We attach great importance to the visit of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy to Japan scheduled for October-November,” the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation added.
He also said that the sides had agreed to maintain an active delegational exchange of specialists from military educational and scientific institutions, and in total they plan to hold more than 30 joint military activities in 2019.
In turn, his Japanese counterpart, Takeshi Iwaya, stressed that the visit of Japan by the top leadership of the Russian Navy will take place for the first time after an 18-year hiatus.
“We hope for mutual understanding and trust between the naval forces of our countries,” said Takeshi Ikaya.