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Russia said on Monday it would take measures to defend itself if the United States stationed missiles in Asia following the collapse of a landmark arms control treaty, and that it expected Japan to deploy a new US missile launch system.
US defence secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday that he was in favour of placing ground-launched, intermediate-range missiles in Asia relatively soon.
Asked about the possible American missile deployment, Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said the Kremlin did not plan to get sucked into an arms race with Washington, but that it would respond defensively to any threats.
“If the deployment of new US systems begins specifically in Asia then the corresponding steps to balance these actions will be taken by us in the direction of parrying these threats,” Mr Ryabkov told a news conference.
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He said Moscow expected Tokyo to soon station the US MK-41 missile-launching system in Japan.
“The universal MK-41 launch system that will appear, it seems, in Japan can also be adapted to be used to launch medium-range cruise missiles ... So these new systems when they appear in Japan will without doubt also be taken into account during our corresponding planning,” he said.
Reuters
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