Zakharova warned Japan about the consequences of US missile deployment

Russia will take the necessary retaliatory steps in case Japan deploys U.S. medium-range missiles, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on November 27.

The diplomat pointed out that official Tokyo is deliberately escalating the situation around Taiwan and is trying to justify in this way its course of militarization and increasing military-technical cooperation with Washington.

"We have repeatedly warned the Japanese side that if, as a result of such cooperation, American medium-range missiles end up on its territory, it will pose a real threat to the security of our country, and we will be forced to take the necessary adequate steps to strengthen our own defense capabilities," Zakharova stressed.

The Japanese leadership can get an idea of the nature of these actions in the updated provisions of the Fundamentals of State Policy of the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear deterrence, said the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.

Earlier, November 25, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow considers the deployment of intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles in Asia as one of the options to respond to similar actions of the United States. According to him, Russia's further steps will predetermine the appearance of U.S. missile systems in any region of the world.

U.S. Secretary of the Army Kristin Warmuth said in September that the United States is interested in deploying land-based medium- and short-range missiles in Japan. Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized the same month that the weapons the U.S. is deploying in Asia pose a threat to China and Russian Federation.

The Japanese embassy in Russia told Izvestia in late October that Tokyo's position on the topic of the transfer of U.S. medium-range missiles to its territory has not changed. At the same time, in November, the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan discussed the build-up of trilateral military exercises and the strengthening of missile defense capabilities.