- Title: Putin: Russia, China not creating military alliance
- Date: 26th March 2023
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (MARCH 25, 2023) (RUSSIAN POOL) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN / RUSSIAN JOURNALIST PAVEL ZARUBIN AT AN INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING (ASKED IF COOPERATION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA THREATENS WEST): "It does not correspond with reality at all. We are not creating any military alliance with China. Yes, we have cooperation in the sphere of military-technical interaction. We are not hiding this. Everything is transparent, there is nothing secret. We have military cooperation, we conduct drills, not only with China but even with other countries as well." PUTIN SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "They are announcing that they will create "Global NATO". What's that? Great Britain and Japan at the start of this year, in January I think, have signed an agreement on developing relations and mutual development in the military area. That is why Western analysts, not us, are talking about the West starting to build a new axis similar to the one created in the 1930s by the fascist regimes of Germany and Italy and militarist Japan."
- Embargoed: 9th April 2023 11:13
- Keywords: ALLIANCE CHINA NATO Putin RUSSIA
- Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- City: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Defence,Europe,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001036026032023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Russia and China are not creating a military alliance and are hiding nothing in terms of their military cooperation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with a state television broadcast on Sunday (March 26), news agencies reported.
Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping professed friendship and pledged closer ties at a summit in Moscow early this week, as Russia struggles to make gains in what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
"We are not creating any military alliance with China," Putin said. "Yes, we have cooperation in the sphere of military-technical interaction. We are not hiding this.
"Everything is transparent, there is nothing secret."
Putin also said Western powers were trying to form more global alliances, accusing the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) of starting to build a new "axis," bearing some resemblance to Germany, Italy, and Japan's World War Two alliance.
"That is why Western analysts...are talking about the West starting to build a new axis similar to the one created in the 1930s by the fascist regimes of Germany and Italy and militarist Japan," Putin said. - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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