MOSCOW. Nov 11 (Interfax-AVN) - There are no Russian submarines in the Japanese territorial waters, Admiral Viktor Kravchenko, Navy Chief of Staff, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Thursday.
"Although, submarine activities should remain outside the scope of mass media, nevertheless, I can state that there are no Russian submarines in the Japanese territorial waters," Kravchenko said.
Commodore Igor Dygalo, Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, also told Interfax-AVN that there were no Russian submarines in the Japanese territorial waters.
"It would contradict relations between Russia and Japan. In the past few years Pacific Fleet vessels have repeatedly conducted naval exercises jointly with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces within the framework of the agreement on avoiding maritime incidents," Dygalo said.
He also emphasized that Russian submarines were on combat patrols, but that their patrol areas did not border on the Japanese territorial waters.
Meanwhile, a Japanese aircraft is still tracking an unknown submarine, which trespassed the Japanese territorial waters on Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said.
It is still not possible to identify the submarine, which will be identified only when it surfaces, or calls at port. Nevertheless, having studies available information, submarine specifications, as well as sonar data, Japanese military experts have arrived at a conclusion that it must be a Chinese nuclear-powered sub, the Japanese NHK broadcasting corporation says. According to it, the sub is tracked both from the air, and a warship, sailing nearby.
The sub was detected near Okinawa on Wednesday. It remained in the Japanese territorial waters for less than two hours, Hosoda said. It has been tracked by a reconnaissance aircraft since the moment it was detected. At the moment the sub is sporadically changing its course and sailing in the northern direction.