Japan said its warplanes used flares to warn a Russian reconnaissance aircraft to leave northern Japanese airspace on Monday.

Japan has protested to the Kremlin after a Russian patrol plane entered its airspace three times, Defence Minister Minoru Kihara says. “We confirmed today that a Russian Il-38 patrol aircraft has violated our airspace over our territorial waters north of Rebun Island, Hokkaido, on three occasions,” Kihara told reporters of Monday’s incidents.

Japanese fighter jets fired warning flares at a Russian reconnaissance plane after it repeatedly breached the neighbouring country’s airspace, Tokyo said, as tensions rise over Moscow’s increasing military cooperation with China in the region.