俄國在択捉島開啟新機場

A few weeks ago the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

ロシア、択捉島に新空港を開港

2014年09月22日 22時39分

　【モスクワ＝田村雄】タス通信によると、北方領土の択捉島中心部の紗那近郊で建設が進められていた新空港が２２日、開港し、ロシア国内便の受け入れが始まった。

　空港の滑走路は約２３００メートルで、大型機の離着陸も可能。ロシア極東のハバロフスクやウラジオストクなどとを結ぶ定期便が就航する予定で、２２日にはサハリンのユジノサハリンスクから第１便の旅客機が到着した。

　択捉島では太平洋側にある旧日本軍の飛行場が利用されてきたが、小型機しか離着陸できず、濃霧による欠航も相次いだため、天候が比較的穏やかなオホーツク海側に新たな空港を整備した。

　ロシアが北方領土を自国領として開発する姿勢を誇示した側面もあるとみられ、日露関係に影響が出る可能性もある。

(試譯文)

According to Tass, in the Shana suburbs located at the central part of Etorofu in the Northern Territories, a new airport that had construction in progress was opened to foreign trade on the 22^nd (September), and it started accepting Russia domestic flights.

The runway of the airport was about 2,300 meters, the taking off and landing by large-sized planes were also possible. Regular services connecting it to Khabarovsk and Vladivostok etc. at Russian Far East were due to be commissioned. On the 22^nd the passenger plane No. 1 arrived from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk of Sakhalin.

On the Pacific Ocean side of Etorofu there was an airfield once used by Japan's now-defunct Army, only small aircraft could take-off and land, also flight cancellations due to thick fog could succeeded one another. This new airport, set up on the side of the Sea of Okhotsk, had comparatively quiet weather.

There was a chance that the Japan-Russia relationship could be affected as the Russian might be seen as showing off a posture that they developed the Northern Territories as their own country’s territory.

I hope the Russo-Japanese relation would not be affected by this airport.