MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. Japan continues to shy away from constructive dialogue with Russia on its justified security concerns and from discussing confidence-building measures in this field, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary released on Saturday in connection with the Japanese-US military exercise "Orient Shield’, held from June 24 through July 11.

The diplomat pointed out that Tokyo indicates through its practical steps and through its defense minister’s statements what its efforts in the military field are actually aimed at.

"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 a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific Region’ are in fact subordinate to one objective, which is to safeguard the narrow-bloc interests of their military alliance with Washington. In doing so, Tokyo still evades constructive dialogue with Russian on our well-founded security concerns as well as discussions on the ways of forming confidence-building measures in this field," she added.