Any deployment of US nuclear arms to Japan would collapse regional stability, Russia says

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Any deployment of U.S. nuclear weapons to Japan in the framework of an "Asian NATO" would lead to a collapse in regional stability, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, on the eve of taking office, outlined a plan to revamp Tokyo's closest alliance by locking Washington into an "Asian NATO" and stationing Japanese troops on U.S. soil.

The new security alliance, Ishiba said, could even share control of Washington's nuclear weapons as a deterrent against Japan's nuclear-armed neighbours.

"And this will lead to what? The correct answer is - the collapse of any stability in an already long-suffering region," Zakharova said.

"This will become a monstrous catalyst for escalation in the region with unknown consequences, or rather, the consequences are known, but we do not want to voice them," Zakharova said, adding that such a move would demonstrate Tokyo's subservience to Washington and its willingness to blindly implement American policies on Japanese soil.

The proposal is not something Tokyo is moving ahead with immediately after India and the United States expressed different concerns about it. But Takeshi Iwaya, Japan's foreign minister, has said "it's one idea for the future."

(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Maxim RodionovEditing by Mark Trevelyan/Andrew Osborn)