Russia has been increasingly assertive in condemning US military plans and has warned of retaliation if Washington builds a separate missile defence shield in former Soviet bloc nations in Eastern Europe.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, paying a one-day visit to Tokyo, also took aim at the missile defence system being built in Japan, saying its goal was "securing military superiority."

But Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tokyo only wanted to protect itself with the shield project, which was launched in earnest after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan in 1998.

"Japan's missile defences are aimed only at protecting the country with a shield. It's not a means to attack other countries," Komura told a joint news conference with Lavrov. "Japan will continue this policy in cooperation with the United States."

"And I would like to add that this policy is not in the least assuming a possible future attack from Russia."

Komura also said Japan did not plan any three-way military alliance with the United States and Australia, despite a first-of-a-kind trilateral summit last month.

The United States has a security treaty under which it protects Japan, which has been officially pacifist since defeat in World War II.

The two nations have stepped up defences since last year's nuclear test by North Korea, which has tense relations with Japan. US forces have brought to Japan Patriot missiles capable of shooting down incoming rockets.

Russia is also strongly opposed to US plans to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic to guard against possible missile attacks from "rogue" countries such as Iran and North Korea.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday in Prague that Washington had proposed a Russian presence at the planned US anti-missile sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Japan has had rocky relations with Russia. The two nations have never signed a treaty to formally end World War II due to a dispute over four islands off Japan's northern coast which Soviet troops seized in 1945.

Both foreign ministers pledged to keep up talks.

"We confirmed our countries' need to continue working to solve this peace treaty issue and that both have the intention to solve this problem. We will work in that direction," Lavrov said.

"It is important that the eventual solution be something acceptable for the public and parliament of both the countries," he said.

Komura in turn said that he and Lavrov "agreed to make utmost positive efforts to solve the territorial problem and conclude peace negotiations."

But the dispute over the four Kuril islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories, has long proved intractable. Japan rejected previous Russian hints it may be ready to hand over only two of the islands.

In 2003, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japan's then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi signed an "action plan" to boost economic ties while at the same time working on the territorial dispute.

Japan has relatively limited investment in Russia considering their proximity, but Tokyo has been eager to buy its gas and oil.

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