The Russian Navy and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy began their annual joint patrol on Thursday. Japan’s Joint Staff Office (JSO) reported that the combined fleet passed through Japan’s Osumi Strait between Thursday and Friday and is now in the Pacific Ocean.
Corvette RFS Sobasheny The (333) was joined by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army destroyer CNS Yinchuan (175) and the frigate CNS Yinchuan (166). Hengshui (572) and fleet oiler CNS Weishan Lake The Russian Pacific Fleet said on Thursday that the Chinese Navy patrol vessel Sino-Russian Naval Shipyard (887) will launch the fourth Russian-Chinese joint maritime patrol in the Asia-Pacific region in the Korea Strait near Jeju Island.
“The objective of the joint patrols is to strengthen Russian-Chinese naval cooperation, maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, monitor the maritime area, and protect the maritime economic facilities of the Russian Federation and China,” the statement said. Russia did not specify where the group would operate.
As of Friday, Weishan Lake According to a fleet sighting report released by the Japan Coast Guard, the Russian Navy’s Dubna-class fleet oiler was replaced by a Russian Navy fleet oiler. At 4 p.m. Thursday, the Japan Coast Guard said, a Russian Navy Dubna-class fleet oiler was spotted sailing southeast in waters 25 miles southwest of the Kusakabe Islands, and at 6 p.m. the same day, Sobasheny, Yinchuan and Hengshui It was spotted sailing east in the same area.
Between Thursday and Friday, the four ships passed through the Osumi Strait and entered the Pacific Ocean. Divine power According to the Joint Staff Office, DE-230 and P-1 patrol aircraft from the 1st Air Wing, based at the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kanoya Base on the main island of Kyushu, tracked the Russian and Chinese vessels.
Sobasheny The Russian corvette was seen sailing southwest through the Tsushima Strait between Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday’s JSO statement said the Russian corvette was spotted sailing southwest in waters about 45 miles northeast of Tsushima at 5 p.m., then sailed southwest through the Tsushima Strait between Wednesday and Thursday and entered the East China Sea. White Hawk (PG-829) and a P-1 MPA from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s 1st Air Wing in pursuit. SobashenyAccording to the release.
Thursday-Friday’s transit through the Osumi Strait marked the third time Russian and Chinese Navy ships have jointly sailed through the strait. Similar groups had done so in 2022 and 2021, both times as part of annual joint Russian-Chinese patrols.
The patrol this time is smaller in scale than last year’s joint naval exercise, which involved more than 10 vessels from both navies. Last year’s patrol involved a total of 10 vessels from both navies, and a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy surveillance vessel joined the fleet operating off the coast of Alaska afterward. More Russian and Chinese warships may join the patrol fleet in the future.
Japan has also been tracking other Russian warships near Japan this week, with the JSO making the announcement on Wednesday and the Russian Navy corvette RFS also spotting the vessel at 7 a.m. the same day. R-298 (971) and R.F.S. R-261 The Russian fast attack craft JS 111 was spotted sailing eastward in waters about 30 miles northwest of Rebun Island (50 km off the northwestern tip of the main island of Hokkaido), before traveling eastward through the Strait of La Perouse, which separates Hokkaido from Russia’s Sakhalin Island, and into the Sea of Okhotsk, the statement said. Young Hawk (PG-825) and a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force P-3C Orion MPA from the 2nd Air Wing based at the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Hachinohe Air Base on Honshu, Japan, tracked the Russian corvette.
