Ground Self-Defense Force troops take part in a military review at the GSDF's Asaka training ground in Saitama Prefecture in October 2018. (AFP)

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said on Monday that Japan's unified military forces, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, are growing into a full-fledged army capable of offensive operations.

"Washington pushed Tokyo to a new round of militarization. Japan's Self-Defense Forces are becoming a full-fledged army capable of conducting offensive operations," he told the Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

The official noted that Japan's authorities already greenlighted the shift in what constitutes a serious violation of one of the most important constitutional outcomes of WWII, which was to outlaw war.

On December 16, 2022, the Japanese government made a cabinet decision on three security documents: a new National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, and Defense Buildup Program.

It has done so for the purposes of boosting its defense "counterstrike capabilities" to respond to alleged Chinese and North Korean threats.

The documents described China "as the greatest strategic challenge" for Japan and the international community. The DPRK and Russia are also cited as "strategic threats" to Japan.

The security documents include an increase in the Japanese defense budget to 2% of its GDP by 2027, which amounts to 11 trillion yen ($83 billion).

On September 1, 2022, the Japanese Defense Ministry declared a record-high military budget request for 2023 of nearly 5.6 trillion yen ($41.4 billion). This sum only contains the costs that the ministry was prepared to disclose. According to experts and the media, the actually requested budget is 6.5 trillion yen.