MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Wednesday that if the United States stopped weapons in Japan, it would threaten Russia’s security and prompt Moscow to retaliate.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday that Japan and the US intend to coordinate an emergency military plan for Taiwan that includes sending missiles.
It cited unnamed US and Japanese sources as saying that under this plan, the US would send livestock to Japan’s Nansei Islands in the southwest of Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures, and to the Philippines.
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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Japan of exacerbating the situation around Taiwan to justify increasing military ties with Washington.
“We have repeatedly warned the Japanese side that if, as a result of such cooperation, American medium-range bombs are detected in its territory, this will endanger the security of our country and we will be forced to take the necessary, adequate measures to strengthen our own defense,” he said.
Zakharova said Tokyo could get an idea of what such steps would entail by reading Russia’s updated nuclear doctrine, published last week, which expanded the list of scenarios in which it would consider using nuclear weapons.
On Monday, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Ryabkov, said that Russia will consider deploying short- and medium-range missiles in Asia if the United States sends such missiles to the continent.
Asked about this statement, Zakharova refused to discuss where Russia would build such weapons, but noted that half of its territory is in Asia, so any Russian bombs that could be deployed east of the Urals would be in that region.
He said that Moscow sent a clear signal to the United States and its “satellites” that Russia will respond effectively and proportionately to the deployment of medium- and short-range weapons in various parts of the world.
He said the West should not doubt Russia’s capabilities after launching a new medium-range hypersonic missile, the Oreshnik, at a target in Ukraine last week.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, writing by Mark Trevelyan and Felix Chiedza; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)