Russian President Vladimir Putin said that NATO was trying to create a global axis similar to Nazi Germany’s with Italy and Japan in the 1930s, an alliance that led to World War II.
The statement was made during an interview Putin gave to Russian state TV, broadcast this weekend.
The Russian president reminded that according to the new ally concept approved in 2022, NATO intends to “develop relations with the countries of the Asia-Pacific region,” including New Zealand, Australia, and South Korea.
“And they guarantee that they will create a global NATO. But what is that? At the beginning of the year, the UK and Japan will agree (…) to establish contacts and develop links in the military field.”
“For all that, ‘Western analysts,’ and not us, say that the West is beginning to build a new axis similar to the one raised in the 1930s by the fascist regimes of Germany, Italy, and militaristic Japan,” the Russian autocrat declared.
In the same interview, Putin denied Russia and China forging a “military alliance” but acknowledged cooperation in the military-technical field.
“We are not hiding anything. It is all transparent; there is nothing secret (…); we will do military exercises. We continue to hold them there, not only with China but also with other countries, despite two events in Donbas, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson.”