Russia Warns of Retaliation if US Deploys Missiles in Japan

Russia stated on Wednesday that the deployment of US missiles in Japan would pose a threat to its security and compel Moscow to respond.

According to Japan’s Kyodo news agency, Japan and the US are working on a joint military plan for a potential Taiwan crisis, which includes missile deployment.

It cited unnamed US and Japanese sources as saying that under the plan, the US would deploy missile units to the Nansei Islands of Japan’s southwestern Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures, and to the Philippines.

Russia Warns Japan Over Missile Deployment, Citing Security Threats and Potential Nuclear Doctrine Implications

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Japan of escalating the situation around Taiwan to justify the expansion of military ties with Washington.

“We have repeatedly warned the Japanese side that if, as a result of such cooperation, American medium-range missiles appear on its territory, this will pose a real threat to the security of our country and we will be forced to take the necessary, adequate steps to strengthen our own defense capability,” she 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 under which it would consider using nuclear weapons.

On Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia would consider deploying short- and intermediate-range missiles in Asia if the United States deployed such missiles to the continent.

Asked about that statement, Zakharova declined to discuss where Russia might site such weapons, but noted that half its territory is in Asia so any Russian missiles potentially deployed east of the Urals would be in that region.

She said Moscow had sent a clear signal to the United States and its “satellites” that Russia would respond decisively and in symmetrical fashion to the placing of land-based medium and shorter-range missiles in various parts of the world.

She said the West should have no doubts about Russia’s potential after it launched a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile, the Oreshnik, at a target in Ukraine last week.