Tokyo - A Russian bomber violated Japan's airspace early Saturday, triggering the deployment of 24 fighter jets in a warning mission, Japan's defence ministry said. News agency reports said the Tupolev Tu-95 entered Japanese airspace at 7:30 am about 650 kilometres south of Tokyo near the uninhabited island of Sofugan for about three minutes.
The Japanese foreign ministry sent a protest to the Russian embassy.
The bomber turned around at the sight of the fighter jets.
The last such incident happened in January 2006, when a Russian military transport aircraft entered Japanese airspace near the coast of the northern island of Hokkaido.
