MOSCOW, Nov 27 - RIA Novosti. Moscow is concerned about the "information vacuum" around the AUKUS alliance and the secrecy of this partnership between Australia, the UK and the USA, and is waiting for answers to questions, said Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna.
"We are concerned that after more than two months since the announcement of the creation of AUKUS on September 15, 2021, an information vacuum and a complete lack of transparency remain around the initiative," Ulyanov said at a session of the IAEA Board of Governors on the topic of AUKUS. His words are quoted by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
According to him, Moscow continues to carefully monitor the situation around the creation of the AUKUS partnership. He stressed that the content of the initiative and the consequences of its implementation cause serious concern, but now it is obvious that the formation of AUKUS carries significant risks to international security, and also does not fit well with the obligations of the partnership participants in the field of nuclear nonproliferation.
"Plans to create nuclear submarines for the Australian Navy within the framework of AUKUS with the assistance of the United States and Great Britain have a destabilizing effect on the regime of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons," Ulyanov added.
"The text of the trilateral agreement on the exchange of information regarding the nuclear submarines project, which recently appeared in the public domain, does not add clarity either. We understand that such agreements are a normal practice. However, it clearly follows from the content of the document that an increased level of secrecy will be applied to the project," the Russian permanent representative noted.
He also said that Moscow is still waiting for a clear answer as to what kind of fuel will be used in the power nuclear installations of submarines.
"If we are talking about highly enriched uranium, which is used in most modern nuclear power plants of nuclear submarines, about two tons of highly enriched uranium will be outside of regular IAEA inspections," Ulyanov said, stressing that there are doubts about whether all nuclear material in Australia will remain in peaceful activities.
In mid-September, Australia signed a deal with the United Kingdom and the United States in the field of defense and security under the new AUKUS partnership and announced its withdrawal from the submarine agreement with the French company Naval Group, the cost of which was 56 billion euros. The agreement with France provided for the production of 12 Barracuda-class attack submarines. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian later called Australia's decision to break the agreement a "stab in the back."