Russia wants information on AUKUS deal

Moscow has a full range of questions concerning the establishment of the AUKUS alliance, which it has already raised with the US and will also present to its Australian and British colleagues, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Wednesday.

"We have got a full range of questions concerning the AUKUS establishment which have been already posed to the American side. We will also send them to Australian colleagues, and we are in the process of raising them with our British ones," Deputy Foreign Minister said.

"Among other things, these questions include how the hypothetical transfer of ship fuel with 90% enrichment correlates with the requirements of non-proliferation, how Canberra will observe the provisions of its obligations under the safeguards agreement with the IAEA in the current situation, under the additional protocol of the safeguards agreement. That’s what we’ll do," Ryabkov clarified.

In the meantime, the issue of the creation of AUKUS is not on the agenda of Russian-American consultations over strategic stability in Geneva and stays in the background of negotiations, the senior diplomat noted. "But AUKUS itself undoubtedly reminds us of how easily and casually our American colleagues treat those regimes in the field of non-proliferation to which they always confirm their commitment and which they urge others to comply with," he added.

A new round of Russian-American consultations over strategic stability will be held on September 30 in Geneva. The Russian delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, while the US delegation was headed by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

On September 15, Australia, the UK and the US announced the establishment of a new security partnership - AUKUS. Under the agreement, Canberra plans to build at least eight US-designed nuclear-powered submarines. Because of this, it terminated a contract valued at 50 billion euros with France. Later, Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton announced a significant expansion of military cooperation with the US.