MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia’s foreign ministry on Friday criticised a nuclear agreement between the United States and South Korea, saying it would destabilise the region and the wider world, and warned of a potential arms race as a result.
The United States on Wednesday pledged to give South Korea more insight into its nuclear planning, while Seoul promised not to seek nuclear weapons itself in an agreement both sides said was aimed against North Korea.
Russia has repeatedly railed against what it sees as the United States’ growing military presence across Asia.
“This development is clearly destabilising in nature and will have serious negative consequences for regional security, impacting on global stability,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Moscow said the United States and NATO’s drive for “decisive military superiority” would “bring nothing but escalating tensions” and could “provoke an arms race”.
Washington has accused Moscow of nuclear sabre-rattling over various statements from Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, since the start of the Ukraine war that Russia would be prepared to use nuclear weapons to defend its “territorial integrity”.
At a joint news conference with U.S. President Joe Biden this week, South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol said the agreement was aimed at strengthening South Korea’s defences in the face of North Korea’s rapidly advancing nuclear weapons program.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
