Japan defence report warns on Russia

Tokyo: An increasingly assertive Russia is staging more frequent military drills near Japan, including with nuclear submarines, the defence ministry here warned in a report Friday.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's cabinet approved the annual "white paper" on defence policy, which also reiterated Japan's longstanding unease about China's rapid military buildup and the threat of North Korea.

The report came as tensions rise between Russia and the West over the conflict in Georgia, which some pundits fear could open the door to a new cold war.

Japan, a close US ally, has never formally ended World War II with Russia due to Moscow's continued control over four islands off Japan's northern coast seized in 1945.

"It has been observed that the Russian military is becoming active in areas close to Japan, including drills and training aimed at improving its proficiency," the white paper said.

It said Russia also appeared to be conducting new types of drills near Japan, including ones involving nuclear-powered submarines.

"Airplane drills and flights near Japan are becoming more frequent," it said, adding that a Russian military jet intruded Japanese airspace in February.

The report referred to the speech by then president Vladimir Putin in February in which he boasted of Russia's revival as a strong state and declared his determination to modernise the military.

Soviet troops seized the four Kuril islands off northern Japan days after Japan's surrender in World War II and expelled their Japanese residents.

The annual report reiterated calls on China to increase transparency over its soaring military spending and called for attention to China's development of weapons in space.

But it noted that senior naval officers paid mutual visits as the Asian powers work to repair longstanding tensions.

"We believe that this kind of personnel exchange will help us deepen mutual understanding," Kazuhiko Masuda, a defence ministry official in charge of the report, told reporters.

The report also reiterated that North Korea, with its nuclear and missile programmes, is "heightening tension in the Korean peninsula, which is a significant factor of instability for East Asia's security."