The AUKUS deal obviously serves as an extension of NATO interests in the region, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the ASEAN ministerial meetings in Cambodia.
"There is an obvious tendency to use AUKUS to advance NATO interests in the Indo-Pacific region. Actually, the NATO members do not hide this," Lavrov told reporters.
Last year, the US, the UK and Australia signed the so-called AUKUS trilateral partnership which promised to strengthen Australia's fleet with nuclear-powered submarines and boost defense cooperation between the countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The announcement led to a diplomatic rift between Australia and France after Canberra reneged on a $66Bln contract with Paris to develop 12 state-of-the-art conventionally powered attack submarines.
As soon as the AUKUS deal was revealed, Russia voiced its concerns about the pact, saying that the partnership would have a destabilizing effect on the Non-Proliferation Treaty and undermine international security in general.
China slammed AUKUS, adding that by agreeing to it, Australia, the US and UK had demonstrated their "Cold War mentality".