MOSCOW. May 26 (Interfax) - The Russian Pacific Fleet has carried out a rotation of Bastion missile system crews on duty on the Kuril Island of Matua.
The Admiral Nevelskoy landing ship has provided the scheduled rotation of troops and hardware, the fleet's press service said on Friday.
"The Admiral Nevelskoy, tasked with transporting crews to the island, delivered military hardware and troops from the Pacific Fleet's missile formation and took aboard military hardware and troops who completed their combat duty," the press service said.
The Bastion battalion was put on 24/7 duty on December 1, 2021, to watch over waters and straits of the Matua Island, it said.
"The Pacific Fleet's Bastion coastal missile systems have taken part in numerous exercises and surprise fleet checks and successfully fired missiles at maritime targets," the press service said.
A Bastion system stationed on Matua fired an Oniks cruise missile during the Vostok 2022 strategic exercise on September 6 of last year, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Bastion, designed by NPO Mashinostroyenia of Tactical Missiles Corporation, protects coasts and fights surface ships of various classes and types. These systems are in operation by every fleet of the Russian Navy.
The Pacific Fleet newspaper Boyevaya Vakhta reported in fall 2016 that Bastion and Bal coastal anti-ship missile systems had been deployed on the Kuril Islands of Iturup and Kunashir.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on December 1, 2020, that S-300V4 long-range air defense systems, made by Almaz-Antey, were put on combat duty on the Kuril Islands.
Japan claims four South Kuril Islands - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai - on the basis of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia signed in 1855. Moscow argues that the South Kuril Islands became part of the former Soviet Union as a result of WWII and the Russian sovereignty, proven by international legal documents, is unquestionable.