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Russia views Japanese, US military drills through prism of its border security — ministry

We cannot but pay attention to the unprecedented scale of the maneuvers, in terms of the forces involved and the coverage of the territory of Japan, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said

MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. Russia considers the Japanese-US military exercise ‘Orient Shield’ through the prism of ensuring the security of its Far Eastern borders, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary released on Saturday in connection with the Japanese-US military exercise, held from June 24 through July 11.

"We cannot but pay attention to the unprecedented scale of the maneuvers, in terms of the forces involved and the coverage of the territory of Japan. We consider the episodes of the exercise on Hokkaido Island, located in close proximity to the borders of the Russian Federation, through the prism of ensuring the security of our Far Eastern borders," the diplomat stressed.

Zakharova noted that during his inspection visit to Hokkaido on June 29, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi pointed to "critical significance" for his country of the northern direction.

"As we know, the island state has only one neighbor in that [direction] - the Russian Federation. Thus, Tokyo indicates through its practical actions and through its defense minister’s mouth what its efforts in the military field are actually aimed at," the diplomat said.

"In this context, it is hard to get rid of the feeling that Japan’s various initiatives concerning peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, including the concept of the ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ region are in fact subordinate to one objective, which is to safeguard the narrow-bloc interests of its military alliance with Washington," the commentary stresses.

Zakharova added that Tokyo continues to shy away from a constructive dialogue with Russia over Moscow’s well-founded security concerns and from discussing the ways to form confidence-building measures in this area.

"We will closely monitor this course of the Japanese authorities and, if needed, will take appropriate response measures," she concluded.

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