TOKYO, April 3. /TASS/. Russia sees Japan's ramping-up of military activities in conjunction with the US and other countries, including NATO member states, as a threat to its Far Eastern borders and stability in the region, Russian Ambassador to Tokyo Nikolay Nozdrev told TASS.

"The main concern for us is the ramping-up of military activities in the form of all kinds of maneuvers and training events with the participation of units from the US and other countries, including NATO [member states], right near the Russian borders. We consider such events as a real direct threat to the security of our Far Eastern borders and the stability of the situation in Northeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole," he said.

Tokyo's main line

Nozdrev said that the ramping-up of such military activity is a manifestation of "the general main line of the administration of [Japanese Prime Minister] Fumio Kishida, aimed at strengthening the country's military capabilities" as well as "dismantling the pacifist restrictions enshrined in the Japanese constitution, which ensured an economic breakthrough in the postwar period."

"Within the framework of this course, a series of concrete steps and events are being systematically implemented. First of all, military spending is being increased despite a very complicated fiscal situation. Japan is carrying out a technical modernization of the Self-Defense Forces, first of all by expanding the purchase of modern weapons that enable attacking the territory of a nominal enemy. The country is also gradually lifting restrictions on arms exports and participation in joint projects with other countries for the development and production of military equipment. Everything is interrelated," the ambassador added.