MOSCOW ¨C A decision by Japan to deploy a U.S. missile defense system will damage Moscow¡¯s relations with Tokyo and is a breach by Washington of a landmark arms control treaty, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
Japan formally decided this month it would expand its ballistic missile defense system with U.S.-made ground-based Aegis radar stations and interceptors in response to a growing threat from North Korean rockets.
¡°Actions like these are in direct contradiction to the priority of building military and political trust between Russia and Japan, and, unfortunately, will impact in a negative way on the whole atmosphere in bilateral relations, including negotiations over the peace treaty problem,¡± Zakharova told a weekly briefing.
¡°In practice it will mean one more breach of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty by the Americans with, in fact, Japan¡¯s assistance,¡± she said.
Russia and Japan never formally ended their hostilities after World War Two because of a dispute over a chain of islands in the Pacific.
Concluding a peace treaty between Russia and Japan would involve Moscow examining how it could be affected by Tokyo¡¯s security commitments to its allies, Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month.
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