The Australian authorities, even before the announcement of the termination of the contract with France on submarines, expressed their concern to Paris about this agreement.

Defense Secretary Peter Dutton said in an interview with Sky News that these concerns were related to rising costs and delays.

“Suggestions that the Australian government did not flag issues of concern are simply at odds with documented, publicly available information and certainly not with what has been publicly reported for a long time.

We have always been frank, open and honest, ”he said.

According to Dutton, this issue has been raised for several years.

The minister added that the main point in deciding to denounce the contract with the French side was the revision of the country's defense goals and objectives.

“We conducted the audit because for a couple of years now we had concerns about this contact, and the audit made it clear to us that a nuclear submarine is the best option for ensuring the safety of Australia, and we made just that decision,” explained head of the Ministry of Defense.

Answering a question from a journalist, Dutton noted that Canberra is ready to consider leasing or buying ready-made submarines from the United States and Great Britain in order to begin re-equipping its fleet, without waiting for the launch of the first nuclear submarines, which will be built under a contract with the United States.

According to him, such negotiations will take place in the next 12-18 months.

The position of the head of the Ministry of Defense that the termination of the contract on submarines could not come as a surprise to France was also supported by Australian Finance Minister Simon Birmingham.

“We notified the French government as soon as possible, before it became public. And the day before that, we interacted with the French on the changes that we are seeing in our region. These include changes in the strategic nature of competition in the region, and changes in the challenges related to the operational capabilities of conventional submarines. The reasons we were looking at the nuclear submarine alternative are related to these various changes, ”Birmingham said on ABC News's Insiders program.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke in the same vein, noting that the French side knew Canberra's "deep and serious fears" about the discrepancy between the characteristics of the submarines proposed by Paris and the strategic interests of the Pacific power.

“And we made it very clear that we will make decisions based on our strategic national interests,” Morrison said at a meeting with reporters in Sydney.  

At the same time, the Australian side has not yet disclosed the cost of the new agreement.

The defense minister only said that the project would not come cheap.

“Peacekeeping is not free,” he added.

  • US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announce new security partnership - AUKUS

  • globallookpress.com

  • © Oliver Contreras / Consolidated News Photos

As a reminder, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States on September 15 announced the creation of a new security partnership - AUKUS.

Within its framework, Washington will provide Canberra with technologies for building its own nuclear submarines, as well as American cruise missiles.

In this regard, Australia has canceled a major contract for the supply of French submarines.

The € 56 billion agreement included the production of 12 Attack-class attack submarines by the Naval Group.

"We have a crisis"

Meanwhile, official Paris continues to express its outrage at Canberra's decision.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that only a small group of people appeared to be working on the new submarine deal.

“A small group of people was initiated into the draft agreement initiated by the USA and Australia.

I'm not even sure if all the members of the Australian and American governments knew about this, ”Le Drian said in an interview with France 2.

He also called the actions of Washington and Canberra undermining confidence: “There was lies, duplicity, a huge loss of trust, there was neglect, it means that something went wrong between us, the relationship was completely wrong.

This means that we have a crisis. "

In his opinion, such steps are unacceptable in relation to strategic allies.

“They don't play with alliances like that.

They do not treat an important partner such as France with such rudeness and unpredictability, ”Le Drian emphasized.

In this regard, he admitted that the current situation will affect the discussion of NATO's future strategy.

Moreover, since January 1, 2022, France will become the chairman of the EU Council.

“At the request of the President of the Republic (Emmanuel Macron. -

RT

), NATO began discussing the foundations of the alliance.

At the upcoming NATO summit in Madrid, the outcome of the development of a new strategic concept will be presented.

Obviously, what happened should be related to its definition, - said the minister.

“But at the same time, Europe must acquire its own strategic compass.

France will take this issue under its responsibility in the first half of 2022 ”.

  • French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian

  • © Jens Schlueter / Pool Photo via AP

The British newspaper Sunday Telegraph reported that the details of the AUKUS defensive agreement between the United States, Australia and Great Britain could have been negotiated virtually behind France's back.

According to her, Dominic Raab, who at that time was the head of the British Foreign Office, helped to conclude the deal.

The newspaper notes that the minister then did not heed the warning about the possible negative impact of the agreement on relations with Paris and Beijing.

“The details were worked out at the June G7 summit in Carbis Bay without the knowledge of the French president.

The documents related to the deal received the status of "top secret" from the British government, and discussions were held in the meeting rooms of the cabinet of ministers, "the newspaper claims.

"Discussions within NATO will escalate"

According to experts, the actions of Australia, which wants to increase its defense potential, are quite understandable, especially in a situation where the United States offers partnership.

"Although Canberra will subsequently experience financial and political costs associated with the cooling of relations with European partners," Sergei Ermakov, a leading expert at the RISS Research Coordination Center, suggested in an interview with RT.

In this regard, analysts say, most of the responsibility for the current situation should be placed on the United States, which, having concluded another military alliance, behaved quite traditionally, putting their own interests at the forefront.

Vadim Kozyulin, head of the Center for Global Studies and International Relations of the IAMP of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Diplomatic Academy, reminded that Washington is now forming an anti-Chinese agenda, which France does not support.

“The US is trying to unite everyone against China by creating economic and military-political alliances.

The White House administration is now moving towards its goal, while behaving like a world hegemon, not looking back at anyone, including its allies, "Kozyulin explained in a commentary on RT.

According to him, this approach is very offensive for France, since it is a nuclear power and one of the largest EU economies.

“Europeans have long begun to suspect that the United States is treating them like a little brother with whom one does not need to consult.

For France, which is a nuclear power and a member of the Security Council, this situation is doubly offensive, it has suffered serious political and economic damage.

After all, Paris is serious about the defense industry, which makes up a significant part of the French economy, ”added Kozyulin.

Sergei Ermakov adheres to a similar opinion, noting that the Americans thus endanger their relations with European countries.

“The United States views its allies as a strategic asset, they treat them quite cynically and mercantilely.

What Washington defines as its immediate strategic interest assumes that everything else, including allies, will be relegated to the background, and the United States believes that they will not lose anything from this, ”Yermakov explained.

The expert called the situation in Afghanistan a striking example of such a policy, when Washington actually abandoned its allies in the republic without warning them about further plans.

In this regard, he suggested that the differences within NATO, which arose after the Afghan events, now only get worse.

"Discussions within NATO will intensify, since this is a big question of how to connect the European" compass "(" Strategic compass "- a military concept, which is being developed in the EU. -

RT

) with the" wind rose "of NATO," Yermakov emphasized.

For his part, Vadim Kozyulin suggested that the new alliance of the United States with Australia and Great Britain would help strengthen the votes of those European countries that insist on military independence from Washington.

“In recent years, the EU has been holding discussions on how to independently build up its rapid reaction forces, and so far these have been only conversations. But I expect that shifts in this process will begin, especially since the EU is already integrating its defense industry. In addition, the countries of the region realize that their value for the United States is being lost to some extent, because they are far from China, which worries the Biden administration quite a lot, ”the expert summed up.