(Reuters) – Russia conducted drills on Tokyo islands, Japanese media reported Saturday. This was days after Moscow halted talks with Japan over its sanctions regarding Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.

Russia’s Eastern Military District stated that it is conducting military drills in the Kuril Islands with over 3,000 soldiers and numerous pieces of equipment. Russia’s Interfax news agency reported Friday.

The drills took place on an island chain that connects Japan’s Hokkaido to Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula. Japan’s media reported that they had reached territory claimed by Tokyo, which was seized by the Soviet Union at the end World War Two.

Outside of normal business hours, the Japan’s Foreign Ministry or Prime Minister’s Office were unable to reach us for comments on these exercises.

Tokyo and Moscow could not reach an agreement to officially end hostilities because of their territorial dispute over the islets, which Russia considers part of its Kuril Chain. Japan refers to them as its Northern Territories.

Japan was furious after Russia pulled out of long-standing treaty negotiations and frozen joint economic project related to islands. It did this in reprisal for Japan’s joining Western sanctions regarding Moscow’s one-month-old invasion.

Interfax reported that Russia participated in exercises to repel amphibious warfare. This included the destruction of defence planes carrying troops, and the testing of skills to use fire control systems for anti-tank guided Missiles.

“In addition to that, units of Air Defense Forces are undertaking a set to detect, identify, and destroy aircraft of an imaginary enemy that would perform an airborne attack,” according to the district’s press office.