Putin says AUKUS harms regional stability

MOSCOW - The AUKUS, a security partnership between Australia, Britain and the United States, "undoubtedly" undermines regional stability, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

"In my opinion, it is good to be friends with each other, but bad to be friends against someone. This impairs the stability that we all talk about and we all care about," Putin said during an interview with US TV channel CNBC on Wednesday.

He said that he hopes the situation will not develop according to some unpredictable scenario and will not cause any additional tensions in the region.

Australia, Britain and the United States announced the establishment of the AUKUS partnership on Sept 15 and under the arrangement, Washington and London will support Canberra in building nuclear-powered submarines.

Russia has repeatedly voiced its concerns over the new bloc.

Russian officials told US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland during her recent visit to Russia that the AUKUS not only hurts the existing security architecture in Asia-Pacific, but also carries the risk of undermining the global nonproliferation regime, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Thursday.