Russia, China do not pursue aim of creating military union, Lavrov says
Relations between Russia and China are at a high level of mutual trust, but the two countries have no plans for creating a military union, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Tuesday, TASS reported.
"Russian-Chinese relations have achieved the best level in history, but these relations do not pursue the aim of creating a military alliance," he said.
Lavrov drew attention to current speculations "about military unions not only in connection with Russian-Chinese relations."
"There have been speculations about pushing ahead with projects for creating a Middle Eastern equivalent of NATO. Lately, some have begun to discuss an ‘Asian NATO’," he explained.
"We have exchanged opinion on that score. We share a common stance with our Indian friends that this would be counterproductive. We would like cooperation to be inclusive and in favor of something, and not against somebody," he said.