Moscow would retaliate if US deploy missiles in Japan

By Newsdesk

MOSCOW: Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday said Moscow would retaliate should the United States deploy ground-based missiles in Japan, the Interfax news agency reported.

Another report says Turkey, Russia and Qatar are making a joint attempt to promote a political solution to Syria’s 10-year conflict, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the three countries were not seeking to replace efforts which Turkey, Russia and Iran had jointly been making since 2017 to reduce fighting in Syria and discuss a political solution.

“Today we launched a new trilateral consultation process,” Cavusoglu said after talks in Doha with Russian and Qatari foreign ministers. “Our goal is to discuss how we can contribute to efforts towards a lasting political solution in Syria.”

All three ministers emphasised in their meeting that the only solution to the conflict, in which hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced, was a political settlement in line with United Nations resolutions, he said.

“I can only welcome Qatar’s desire to make its contribution to creating the conditions for overcoming the current tragic situation in Syria,” he said. In China strategy, Biden to meet with leaders of Australia, India, Japan: US President Joe Biden will meet on Friday with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan, a group central to his efforts to counter China’s growing military and economic power.

The White House has said the virtual meeting of the countries known as the Quad would show the importance Biden has placed on the Indo-Pacific region and focus on ways to fight the coronavirus, and cooperate on economic growth and the climate crisis.

India and Australia have emphasized the importance of regional security cooperation, which has been boosted by previous lower-level meetings of the four countries.“I do believe that there will be an honest, open discussion about China’s role on the global stage,” one senior US official told reporters on the eve of the meeting, referencing “challenges in the region” to free and open trade and commerce.

The Biden administration has said the Quad nations would announce financing agreements to support an increase in manufacturing capacity for coronavirus vaccines in India, something New Delhi has urged to counter China’s widening vaccine diplomacy.

US officials say the countries will also set up a group of experts to help distribute vaccines in the region, as well as working groups for cooperation on climate change, technology standards, and joint development of emerging technologies.