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By Shane Croucher and John Feng
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is "very much concerned" by what it believes is the ongoing presence of the U.S. Typhon missile system in Japan, in light of deepening military and strategic cooperation between Washington and Tokyo.
Lavrov, speaking to journalists in Moscow, said NATO allies from outside the region had also been part of what he said was the "militarization" of Japan, with drills and other military activity "happening in close proximity to Russia's borders".
Newsweek contacted the State Department for comment outside of normal business hours.
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The Japanese Defense Ministry had told Newsweek in October that the U.S. was preparing to remove the Typhon system and it was "not intended to be a permanent deployment." The following month, the Japanese Foreign Ministry responded to Russian concerns about the weapon, saying it was not directed at any country in particular.
Deployments of the Typhon system to the Asia-Pacific are intended to reassure U.S. allies as China, in strategic partnership with Russia, increasingly asserts itself with aggression in the region. China is also rapidly building up its military capabilities.
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NATO sees the Asia-Pacific as connected to transatlantic security because of the deepening partnership between China and Russia, which is waging a years-long invasion of Ukraine and posing a broader threat through hybrid war to European allies.
Beijing provides substantial financial support through oil purchases to Russia's sanctions-hit war economy. But the Western alliance also fears that China could bog U.S. military resources down defending Taiwan should Beijing decide to invade the island, and so limiting Washington's ability to defend European NATO members against Moscow.
In August, the U.S. deployed its mid-range Typhon missile system to one of its bases in Japan for the first time, part of Washington's effort to increase its presence and strengthen its military posture in the Asia-Pacific to counter China, its great power rival.
The land-based Typhon weapon is capable of firing the Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) and Tomahawk cruise missiles, and was deployed to the U.S. Marine Corps Base in Iwakuni, in southwestern Japan, for exercises.
"We were told that it was on a temporary basis for some military drills, but according to our information, these offensive systems, the Typhon systems, which are meant to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles, are still in Japan," Lavrov said, originally in Russian.
"So maybe it's not just about military drills. Maybe this is more about a permanent presence, if I can say that. We have had no official confirmation that these systems have been withdrawn, so we are still very much concerned about that."
The system was deployed to Iwakuni during a bilateral war game, code-named Resolute Dragon 25, held in September.
The 1,000-mile-range Tomahawk cruise missiles could strike China, Russia, and North Korea from Japan.
The SM-6 has a range of 290 miles and is designed to conduct anti-air and anti-surface warfare operations as well as ballistic missile defense missions.
In April 2024, the U.S. Army stationed a Typhon system in the Philippines, at first for drills, but the allies later decided to keep the weapon there indefinitely, which China denounced as a "highly dangerous move."
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