14.10.2021 18:41
Pact between US, UK, Australia carries risks for nuclear non proliferation regime, says Russian Foreign Ministry official.
The recent security pact between the US, UK, and Australia "threatens to undermine the existing security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region," a spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
Such a partnership also potentially carries risks for the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, Maria Zakharova said at the Third Eurasian Women's Forum in the Russian port city of Saint Petersburg.
After the AUKUS alliance was unveiled on Sept. 15, Australia canceled a multibillion-dollar deal for French submarines because it will now get technology from the US and UK to build nuclear-powered submarines.
The "stab in the back" enraged France to the extent that it recalled its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington for a while.
The AUKUS pact is seen as another attempt – after the Quad alliance of the US, Japan, Australia, and India – to counter China's expanding economic and military influence in the wider Asia-Pacific region, with particular focus on the South China Sea. -