Secret military files from 2013–2014 show Moscow’s planning for potential war with Japan and South Korea on Russia’s eastern flank

Secret files from a decade ago reveal Russian military plans showing “detailed target lists for a potential war with Japan and South Korea that included nuclear power stations and other civilian infrastructure,” The Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing a cache of 29 secret Russian military files from 2013–2014. 

The targets covered 160 sites such as roads, bridges, and factories to stop the “regrouping of troops in areas of operational purpose,” the FT reported, arguing that the documents highlight “Moscow’s acute concern about its eastern flank,” specifically, “attack from U.S. assets and regional allies.” William Alberque, a former NATO arms control official now at the Stimson Center, told the newspaper that the plans reveal Moscow’s awareness that “the European and Asian theatres of war are directly and inextricably linked.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not comment on the FT’s report.