US Missile Defense in Asia-Pacific Disproportionate to N Korean Threat - Lavrov

Russia has drawn Japan's attention to the disproportionate response of the US missile defense system deployment in the Asia-Pacific to the North Korean threat during 2+2 format talks between the defense and foreign ministers, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday.

TOKYO (Sputnik) — Lavrov also said that Russia drew Japan's attention at 2+2 format talks between defense and foreign ministers to the risks associated with the deployment of the US global missile defense system in the Asia-Pacific region.

"We drew attention to the serious risks that are fraught with the deployment of US global missile defense elements in the Asia-Pacific region," Lavrov said at a joint press conference.

"We outlined our assessments, which show that if we are talking about countering the threats emanating from North Korea, then the creation of such a missile defense system, as well as the pumping of the region with weapons, is a disproportionate response," Lavrov said at a joint press conference.

Moscow has expressed concern with the bloc-like approach to  regional security at consultations with the Japanese defense and foreign ministers, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday.

"The main attention in the four ministers' discussion was paid to the security issues in the Asia-Pacific region, and we expressed our concerns about maintaining a tendency toward bloc-like approaches to this crucial issue," Lavrov said at a joint press conference.

He maintained that "only collective measures are needed to successfully counter modern challenges and threats."

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