Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday that Russia had sent a request for inquiries to the United States about the Okos defense treaty, the Interfax news agency reported.
"Russia has many questions regarding this trilateral security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States that have been sent to Washington, and we will also ask these questions to the Australian and British allies of the United States concerned with this agreement," Ryabkov told Sputnik.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that "the recent defense partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States (OCUS) is aimed at helping Australia contain China."
He added in a press conference last Saturday that any plans that adopt a logic of confrontation do not help the inhabitants of our common planet lead a normal life, whether it is the Indo-Pacific strategies that were announced not long ago, and openly declared that one of its main tasks is to contain China's growth in the South China Sea, Or the Triple Alliance, which was also announced between Australia, the United States and Britain.
On the other hand, the US ambassador to Indonesia said today, Wednesday, that "the tripartite defense agreement between Australia, the United States and Britain (Ocos) does not target any specific country, and does not put the countries of the Indo-Pacific region in any strange situation."
Ambassador Sung Kim, who is also Washington's envoy to North Korea, added to a virtual forum that the agreement should not raise any concerns regarding nuclear proliferation, and that the three parties fully respect the centrality of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The trilateral agreement under which Australia will acquire nuclear submarine technology from the United States has angered France and alarmed China since Washington, London and Canberra announced it earlier this month.