The drill also involved covert movement and support from military ships, aircraft and drones, it quoted Russia's Pacific Navy as saying, Reuters reported.

Japan lays claim to the Russian-held southern Kuril Islands in the nearby Sea of Okhotsk, which Tokyo refers to as the Northern Territories in a territorial row dating from the end of World War II, when Soviet troops seized them from Japan.

The dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty.