Moscow (EFE).- Russian President Vladimir Putin today accused NATO of trying to create a global axis in the image and likeness of Nazi Germany with Italy and Japan in the 1930s, an alliance that led to World War II.
“What does the United States do? They create new and new alliances, which gives arguments to Western analysts to talk about the West building new axes,” Putin said in statements to public television.
He recalled that, according to the new allied conception approved in 2022, NATO intends to “develop relations with the countries of the Asia-Pacific region”, which would include New Zealand, Australia and South Korea.
“And they say they will create a global NATO. But what is this? At the beginning of the year the United Kingdom and Japan, if I am not mistaken, signed an agreement (…) to establish contacts and develop ties in the military field, ”he said.
For all these reasons, “Western analysts and not us say that the West is beginning to build a new axis similar to the one created in the 1930s by the fascist regimes in Germany, Italy and militaristic Japan.”
At the same time, Putin denied that Russia and China are forging a “military alliance”, although he acknowledged that there is cooperation in the technical-military field.
“We don’t hide it. Everything is transparent, there is nothing secret (…), we hold military exercises. By the way, not only with China, but with other countries we continue to do them despite the events in Donbas, Zaporozhia and Kherson, ”he noted.
And he rejected accusations that such a strategic relationship is a threat to third countries, which Putin and his Chinese colleague Xi Jinping made clear in the joint political statement issued during the former’s state visit to Russia earlier this week.
Agreement to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus
In the first part of the same interview broadcast on Saturday, Putin announced an agreement with Belarus, a country that shares a border with Ukraine, for the deployment on its territory of tactical nuclear weapons.
Putin announced that on April 3 the training of the Belarusian military will begin and on July 1 the underground silo will be built to house said weapons.
At first, he assured that the trigger for this decision was the British plans to supply Kiev with depleted uranium ammunition, although he later admitted that the US has been doing the same thing for decades in Europe and that the Belarusian leader, Alexandr Lukashenko, gave it to him. I had asked numerous times.