VIENTIANE, July 27. /TASS/. Russia is trying to get the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to fulfill its authority to monitor AUKUS, which is trying to introduce nuclear components in Asia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"In the past few years, the US, together with the UK and the EU, to a certain extent began to promote here [in the Asia-Pacific region] elements of bloc infrastructure, including those with a nuclear component. The first step was taken when the AUKUS bloc was being created, this is the US, the UK and Australia, a project to build nuclear-powered submarines," he said at a press conference following the ASEAN-Russia meeting and the 14th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting. "The topic is very risky and requires constant full control by the IAEA, which the AUKUS members are not quite ready for, but we are also trying to ensure that the agency uses its powers to the fullest extent so that there is full transparency, but so far we have not been very successful," he emphasized.

Lavrov pointed out that "the practical activities of AUKUS are aimed at instilling tolerance in the Asian region with regard to the deployment of nuclear weapons components"

AUKUS is a security partnership between the governments of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, which was established in September 2021 to carry out joint defense initiatives. One of the initiatives is aimed at assisting Australia in acquiring a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. The second initiative is related to the joint development of military equipment in eight areas, including underwater systems, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, hypersonic aircraft, innovation and information-sharing technologies. The bloc’s members do not rule out that it could be expanded to partners and like-minded countries, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region, which is why Russia and China have expressed concern, urging AUKUS members to strictly comply with their commitments to the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.