Russia heard about the concern from the Japanese side and did not use the territory during the Vostok-2018 (or East-2018) exercises Xinhua quoted Shoigu as saying.
He was speaking on Monday at a meeting with the Chief of Joint Staff of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano who has appreciated the move.
The Vostok-2018 was held on September 11-15 and involved forces from Russia s Eastern and Central military districts as well as its Northern Fleet and units of the Chinese People s Liberation Army and Mongolian Armed Forces.
Russia invited Japan too but it refrained. The two have not signed a post-World War II peace treaty over their rival claims to four Pacific islands called the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.
--IANS in/
