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".