Photo: Natalia Muschinkina
The Japanese-American military exercise “Eastern Shield”, which will be held on June 24 – July 11, poses threats to Russia’s security. This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova. She noted”the scale of maneuvers unprecedented in terms of the forces involved and the coverage of the territory of Japan.” “We are considering the episodes of the exercises on the island of Hokkaido, located in close proximity to the borders of the Russian Federation, through the prism of ensuring the security of our Far Eastern borders,” Zakharova said in a comment about the exercises.
According to Zakharova,”Tokyo, through concrete actions and through the mouth of its defense minister, indicates what its efforts in the military field are really aimed at.”
“Tokyo is still moving away from a constructive dialogue with Russia on our well-founded security concerns and from discussing ways to form confidence-building measures in this area. We will closely monitor this course of the Japanese authorities and, if necessary, take appropriate response measures, ” Maria Zakharova concluded.
As you know, a peace treaty has not yet been signed between Russia and Japan following the results of the Second World War. Tokyo links the signing of a peace treaty with the solution of the issue of the ownership of the southern islands of the Kuril Ridge. Russia, in turn, draws attention to the fact that Japan depends on the United States in military matters and does not take into account, in this regard, the interests of Russian security. The largest US military bases and missile defense facilities are located on the territory of Japan. It was reported that the United States plans to deploy medium-and shorter-range missiles on the territory of Japan after withdrawing from the INF Treaty.