MOSCOW: A transfer by Japan to supply Patriot air defence techniques to Ukraine can have “grave penalties” for Russia-Japan ties, Russian overseas ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on Wednesday (Dec 27).
Relations between Moscow and Tokyo, already tough, have deteriorated sharply since Russia despatched tens of 1000’s of troops into Ukraine in Feb. 2022. Japan has joined its Western allies in imposing sweeping financial sanctions on Russia.
Final week, Japan stated it could put together to ship Patriot air defence missiles to the US after revising its arms export tips, in Tokyo’s first main overhaul of such export curbs in 9 years.
Though Japan’s new export controls nonetheless forestall it from transport weapons to nations which might be at warfare, it could not directly profit Ukraine in its warfare with Russia because it provides the US further capability to supply army help to Kyiv.
“The Japanese aspect loses management over the weapons with which Washington can now do no matter it needs,” Zakharova advised a weekly briefing. “It can’t be dominated out that underneath an already examined scheme Patriot missiles will find yourself in Ukraine.”
Such a situation could be “interpreted as unambiguously hostile actions towards Russia and can result in grave penalties for Japan within the context of bilateral relations”, she stated.
Earlier this month, Japan and South Korea both scrambled jets to monitor joint flights by Chinese and Russian bombers and fighters close to their territories.
Russia and Japan have but to conclude a treaty formally ending World Battle II hostilities resulting from an previous territorial dispute involving a sequence of Pacific islands identified in Japan because the Northern Territories and in Russia because the Southern Kuriles.
Even earlier than the Ukraine battle, Tokyo had complained about elevated Russian army deployments on the islands, which the Soviet Union seized from Japan on the finish of World Battle II.