MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. Moscow once against voiced its concerns to Tokyo over the deployment of elements of the US global missile shield in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday after talks between the two countries’ foreign and defense ministers.

"On our part, we once again drew attention to the concerns the Russian side has already voiced over the deployment of elements of the US global missile defense in the region," he said.

In December 2017, the Japanese government took a decision to deploy two US Aegis Ashore missile defense systems in the north and southwest of the Honshu Island in 2023. Tokyo claims these systems are meant to protect the country from ballistic and, possibly, from cruise missiles. Japan plans to spend about 100 billion yens (about 897 million US dollars) for each of the systems. Russia and China are against Tokyo’s missile defense buildup, saying it will tilt the balance of forces in the region.