Russia worried over bloc-to-bloc approaches to Asia-Pacific security - Lavrov

TOKYO, March 20. /TASS/. Russia is worried over the continuing trends towards bloc-to-bloc approaches to security matters in the Asia-Pacific Region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following Russian-Japanese two-plus-two talks on Monday. "We are grateful to our Japanese counterparts for the invitation, hospitality and very meaningful talks," Lavrov said. "The resumption of two-plus-two negotiations Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had agreed on has been very useful." The two countries’ foreign and defense ministers focused on security issues in the Asia-Pacific Region. "We expressed our concerns over the continuing trend towards bloc-to-bloc approaches to this most important issue, while only collective measures are required for successful resistance to modern challenges and threats," he said. "We spoke in detail about the ideas Russia is pressing for in cooperation with China and other states, involved in the mechanism of the East Asian summits, for maintaining security on the non-bloc basis, on the basis of indivisibility, security and non-intervention in the internal affairs and through multi-lateral efforts," Lavrov said. Read more