Russia and China are not creating a military alliance and are not hiding anything in terms of military cooperation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview broadcast Sunday by Russian state television.
Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping said their countries are friends and pledged closer ties during their meeting in Moscow earlier this week, as Russia tries to score victories in what calls "special military operation" in Ukraine.
"We are not creating any military alliance with China," Putin was quoted as saying, according to Interfax.
"Yes, we have cooperation in the field of military-technical interaction. We do not hide this. Everything is transparent, there are no secrets," the Russian leader added.
Putin also said that the Western powers are trying to create more global alliances, accusing the United States and NATO of starting to build a new "axis", which, according to him, has some similarities with the alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan in World War II.
"Therefore, Western analysts... are talking about the fact that the West is starting to build a new axis similar to the one created in the 30s by the fascist regimes of Germany, Italy and the military regime of Japan," Putin said. .
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On Putin's orders, Russian forces launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The US has recently warned that China may offer arms to Russia, which Beijing has denied.
China has not condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but recently released a 12-point plan for the war in Ukraine, arguing that it wants the conflict to be resolved through dialogue./REL
