A senior Russian official has said that an exercise between Japan Self-Defense Forces and the US military near the Russian border is a threat to Russian security.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov spoke in an interview with Russia's state-run RIA news agency on Tuesday.

The remark appears to refer to the joint drill held by Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force and the US Navy in the Sea of Japan earlier this month. A US strike group led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln took part in the exercise.

Morgulov reportedly said Russia is warning via diplomatic channels that Japan will have to brace for Russian countermeasures should it conduct such drills more frequently.

Russia has designated Japan as an "unfriendly" state since it joined other Western countries in imposing sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Russia has also unilaterally declared that it is suspending bilateral peace treaty talks with Japan.