Japan’s changing nuclear policy raises concerns over regional stability: Russian foreign minister

MOSCOW, Aug 22: Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow is closely monitoring Tokyo’s naval presence near Russia’s borders and is concerned about a possible change in Japan’s non-nuclear policy.

During a weekly briefing on Wednesday, Zakharova said Japan’s plans to undermine its non-nuclear status by joining US nuclear missions, conducting multilateral exercises with the participation of strategic aircraft for nuclear missions and considering the deployment of US medium-range missiles on its territory are particularly worrying.

She said Moscow is closely monitoring Tokyo’s increasing naval activities near Russia’s borders in the Fast East with the participation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members from outside the region, reports Xinhua news agency.

She said Japan’s policy ultimately poses concrete risks to regional stability and security.

The response followed the Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, a South Korea-US-Japan annual summer military exercise involving field manoeuvers, computer-simulated command post exercises and civil defense drills, which began on Monday and is scheduled to continue until August 29.

During the 11-day exercise, the joint forces plan to expand field training and live-fire exercises across multiple domains to strengthen interoperability and demonstrate their combined capabilities, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.

The joint forces will further strengthen the ability and posture to deter and defend against weapons of mass destruction, the JCS said.

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