(CNN) Russian Pacific Fleet warships are conducting anti-submarine drills in the waters off the country’s Far Eastern coast, the Russian Pacific Fleet’s press service said Thursday morning.
The drills involve three corvette warships tasked with locating and destroying an enemy fake submarine with the help of helicopters in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea.
“Before the corvettes went to sea, the siren was sounded on board, prompting the crews to practice emergency measures to put the ships in combat condition and for the [military] campaign,” the Pacific Fleet press office said.
The fleet also engaged in other anti-aircraft and anti-submarine defense exercises. The final stage of the exercises will involve “ship-based anti-sabotage support units with practical anti-sabotage grenade launches”, he said.
These exercises were at least the second in less than three weeks that the Russian Navy has carried out in the same waters.
In late March, Russian missile boats fired cruise missiles at a fake target in the Sea of Japan, the Defense Ministry said.
“A team of two missile boats carried out a joint missile strike against a sea shield simulating a simulated enemy warship,” the ministry said in a Telegram post at the time.
“The target was successfully engaged at a range of 100 kilometers (62 miles) by direct fire from two Moskit cruise missiles,” the ministry said.
Tensions between Japan and Russia have risen in recent months, fueled by Japan’s support for Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
Thursday’s exercise comes less than a month after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s surprise visit to Ukraine. On the same day, two Russian strategic bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, hovered over the waters off the coast of Japan for more than seven hours in what Moscow called a “planned flight”, Reuters reported.
Kishida has previously spoken out forcefully against Russia’s invasion of his neighbour, warning last year that “the Ukraine of today could be East Asia tomorrow”.
And last month, after pledging additional aid to Ukraine on the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion, Kishida said: “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is not just a European affair, but a challenge to the rules and principles of the entire international community.
Japan and Russia are also embroiled in a decades-long territorial dispute.
Japan claims the Russian-held South Kuril Islands, which Tokyo calls the Northern Territories, a dispute that dates back to the end of World War II when Soviet troops seized them from Japan.
CNN’s Tara Subramaniam contributed to this story.