Russia slams Japanese drills with US and Australia, says US Typhon missile systems pose threat

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept 1 (Reuters) – Russia on Tuesday condemned upcoming joint military exercises between Japan, Australia and the United States and said it had formally complained to Tokyo about the deployment of U.S. Typhon missile launchers for the drills, something it said posed a threat to its own national security. 

The “Orient Shield” drills are due to run from September 8-24 in Japan and, according to Japan’s Kyodo News, will involve 3,700 personnel from the three countries, making the exercise the biggest of its kind yet. The drills will for the first time also involve U.S. Typhon mid-range missile systems which can launch SM-6 and Tomahawk cruise missiles.   

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters at a news briefing in Vladivostok that Russia wanted Japan to return to a policy of pacifism and was concerned that the exercises would take place in Japanese regions close to Russia’s own borders in the far east. Russia had lodged a complaint with the Japanese embassy in Moscow on Monday, she said.  

“The Japanese side was firmly informed that provocative military activity near our country’s far eastern borders is categorically unacceptable,” said Zakharova. 

“Attention was also drawn to reports that, as part of these exercises, it is intended to deploy American Typhon ground-based systems. It was made clear to the embassy that the deployment of such weapons on Japanese territory, including under the pretext of military exercises, is absolutely unacceptable as it poses a threat to Russia’s security. A warning was issued regarding compensatory countermeasures by Moscow aimed at ensuring an appropriate level of national security.”

The U.S. military sent its powerful Typhon midrange missile system to Kagoshima Prefecture for joint exercises with the Japanese Self-Defence Forces in June, the Japan Times reported at the time. It said the missiles were then scheduled to take part in this month’s joint exercises before being moved to a U.S. military base in Japan from around mid-October.

Russia and Japan have exchanged a series of protests in recent weeks following a rare visit by President Vladimir Putin to a disputed Russian-controlled island off northeast Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the trip “absolutely unacceptable”, and Moscow then summoned the Japanese ambassador to complain about what it called anti-Russian remarks by Takaichi and her foreign minister.

(Reporting by Olesya Astakhova, Dmitry Antonov and Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)