Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip to the Far East was intended as a targeted message to the Japanese authorities, political scientist Boris Mezhuev said. Speaking to NEWS.ru, he linked the visit to Putin’s warning that Moscow was prepared to respond in kind to seizures of Russian tankers.

Mezhuev pointed out that Putin’s remarks about reciprocal measures against maritime piracy were made close to Japan. In his view, Moscow was making it clear to Tokyo that it should not follow the example of European countries by taking similar action against Russian vessels.

The political scientist also drew attention to a report delivered to Putin by Pacific Fleet Commander Viktor Liina. The president was told that 1,001 vessels had passed through Russia’s exclusive economic zone along the islands of the Southern Kuril chain between April 24 and August 6.

Of those ships, 379 were sailing under the flags of countries designated as unfriendly by Russia.

Mezhuev interpreted the publication of those figures as another signal to unfriendly states. He argued that putting the data in the public domain demonstrated that Russia was monitoring their transport flows and was capable of inflicting damage on them.

Earlier, Japan’s Foreign Ministry protested Putin’s trip to the Kuril island of Iturup. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi summoned Russian Ambassador to Tokyo Nikolai Nozdrev over the visit.