Kremlin: deployment of US missile defense in Japan will negatively impact relations between Russia and Japan
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the deployment of Aegis Ashore ground-based anti-ballistic missile defense systems in Japan would negatively affect relations between Moscow and Tokyo, TASS reports.
According to Zakharova, this decision by Tokyo causes "deep regret and major concerns."
"We see this move by Japan as running counter to efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region," she went on. "Such actions by Tokyo are directly at variance with the priority task to build trust in the military-political sphere between Russia and Japan, and will negatively influence the general atmosphere in bilateral relations, including negotiations on a peace treaty," she said.
"No matter what arguments and motives are cited to explain it [the decision], it is clear that the deployment of the above-mentioned systems is yet another move towards creating a full-scale Asian-Pacific regional segment of the US global missile defense system," Zakharova noted.
On December 19, the Japanese government decided to deploy two American Aegis Ashore missile defense systems in the north and southwest of the main island of Honshu by 2023. The systems should protect the country from ballistic missile attacks and, potentially, cruise missile attacks. The installations will be purchased from the US and cost about 100 billion yen (about $889 million) each.
In September, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on Putin to conclude a peace treaty on the Kuril islands. Abe made a call to leave young people of the next generation "a world in which Russia and Japan can achieve their potential."