JAKARTA - Russia's Ministry of Defense says it has deployed coastal defense missile systems moving to the northern Kuril Islands, part of a strategically located island chain, stretching between Japan and the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula.
Japan claims the Russian-controlled southern Kuril Islands, which Tokyo calls the Northern Region, a territorial dispute that occurred at the end of the Second World War, when Soviet Union forces seized it from Japan.
The Russian Bastion system, which has missiles with flight ranges of up to 500 km (310 miles), was deployed on the island of Paramushir, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.
"Fridayers of the Pacific Fleet coast will continue to stand guard around the clock to control the waters and adjacent strait zones," the ministry said.
The ministry said a military camp was set up in Paramushir with possible facilities for year-round services, accommodation, recreation and food for personnel.
The deployment comes a year after Russia installed the Bastion system on Matua Island, in the center of the ridge of Kuril's hill, the ministry said in a statement.
Separately, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a press conference Tuesday the Government would closely monitor Russian military activity, adding that it was rising in the far eastern region along with Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Japan has joined its Western allies in imposing economic sanctions on Russia, after sending tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine in what Moscow calls a "special military operation".
Meanwhile, Russia withdrew from peace agreement talks with Japan, freezing a joint economic project related to the disputed Kuril Islands due to Japanese sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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