MOSCOW: Russia and China are not creating a military alliance and the cooperation between their armed forces is “transparent”, President Putin said in comments broadcast on Sunday, days after hosting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the Kremlin. Putin and Xi professed friendship and pledged closer ties, including in the military sphere, during their March 20-21 summit.
Putin said on state television: “We have cooperation in the sphere of military-technical interaction. We are not hiding this”. He dismissed suggestions that Moscow’s increased ties with Beijing in energy and finance meant that Russia was becoming overly dependent on China, saying these were the views of “jealous people”.
Putin also accused the US and Nato of seeking to build a new global “axis” that he said bore resemblance to the WWII alliance between Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and imperial Japan. He named Australia, New Zealand and South Korea as being in line to join a “global Nato” and referenced a defence pact signed by Britain and Japan earlier this year.
Putin said on state television: “We have cooperation in the sphere of military-technical interaction. We are not hiding this”. He dismissed suggestions that Moscow’s increased ties with Beijing in energy and finance meant that Russia was becoming overly dependent on China, saying these were the views of “jealous people”.
Putin also accused the US and Nato of seeking to build a new global “axis” that he said bore resemblance to the WWII alliance between Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and imperial Japan. He named Australia, New Zealand and South Korea as being in line to join a “global Nato” and referenced a defence pact signed by Britain and Japan earlier this year.