For the first time, Japan has detected an advanced type of Russian nuclear-powered submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles near its territorial waters.
On Monday, the Defense Ministry of Japan reported that four Russian vessels were spotted sailing in waters off the northern coast of Hokkaido, one of the four main islands of Japan, as they transited the La Perouse Strait westward from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Sea of Japan.
The strait, also known as the Soya Strait, is one of the five waterways where Japan has made its territorial waters claim less than the usual 12 nautical miles to maintain high seas corridors. All ships can exercise their rights of transit passage for international navigation.
The Japan Self-Defense Forces have regularly encountered the Russian military units in waters and airspace around the country. Japan is a treaty ally of the United States, while Russia has increased its level of military cooperation with the nuclear-capable North Korea.
One of the Russian vessels was a Yasen-class cruise missile submarine using nuclear propulsion, which is considered the most advanced, powerful and quiet attack submarine in Russia, especially when it comes to stealth that matches the latest Western submarines.
There are two 13,800-ton Yasen-class submarines assigned to the Russian Pacific Fleet, the Krasnoyarsk and the Novosibirsk. Each has 10 torpedo tubes and 32 vertical tubes for firing conventional long-range missiles against warships and land targets.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
It was not immediately clear why the submarine, the first Yasen-class boat observed by the Japanese navy, left its base at Rybachiy near Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula, which is the home of the Russian Pacific Fleet’s nuclear-powered submarines.
A Yasen-class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine arriving at the base of the Russian navy Northern Fleet in Murmansk region, Russia, on June 1, 2021. One of the two Yasen-class submarines assigned to the Russian navy… A Yasen-class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine arriving at the base of the Russian navy Northern Fleet in Murmansk region, Russia, on June 1, 2021. One of the two Yasen-class submarines assigned to the Russian navy Pacific Fleet transited near the Japanese island of Hokkaido on November 11.
Pavel Lvov/Sputnik via AP
In September, the Krasnoyarsk completed a voyage with a submarine armed with nuclear missiles under the ice of the Arctic. They were transferred from the Barents Sea in the northwest of Russia to the country’s Far East region facing the Pacific Ocean.
Meanwhile, Vice Admiral Vladimir Dmitriyev, the commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet’s submarine forces, said in October that the modernization of a Far Eastern base had enabled seven nuclear-powered submarines to be put into service over the past few years.
The Russian naval formation also comprises the frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov, the missile range instrumentation ship Marshal Krylov and a rescue tug. The Japanese navy deployed a P-3C anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft to shadow the Russian flotilla.
Besides the submarine-led formation, a second group of Russian naval vessels under the command of the Pacific Fleet, formed by three corvettes and a support vessel, is on its Indo-Pacific deployment, which has visited Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia.
