Washington Announces It's Ready to Answer Moscow over AUKUS
A US official affirms that his country is ready to answer Moscow's questions regarding the UK, US, and Australia AUKUS alliance.
The US President's special envoy for nuclear non-proliferation issues, Jeffrey Eberhardt, told reporters that the US is ready to answer Russia's questions regarding the Australian-British-American AUKUS alliance.
Australia announced in mid-September it was abandoning the French diesel submarines deal worth $66 billion in favor of nuclear-powered submarines, as it joined a new defense alliance with Britain and the US.
In the latest details about the Australian dispute with France, the French ambassador to Australia said on Wednesday that Canberra had acted with "deception."
A few days ago, a journalist had asked French President Emmanuel Macron whether he thinks Australia's President Scott Morrison had lied about the deal, to which Macron replied he was positive the Australian president did.
Australia considered that France should have been aware of the concerns Canberra had about French submarines.
For his part, US President Joe Biden admitted to Macron on Friday that his country had been "clumsy" by securing a submarine deal with Australia behind France's back.
Biden said he believed that France had been informed of the cancellation of the contract before the AUKUS alliance was announced.
In September, the US president announced a new strategic alliance between Australia, the US, and the UK, expanding the scope of US nuclear-powered submarine technology to include Australia, in addition to cybersecurity technologies, artificial intelligence, and underwater naval capabilities.