OREANDA-NEWS Russia and China do not need a NATO-type military alliance, as fruitful military cooperation continues on a bilateral basis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"We are often asked when we will create a military alliance. We don't need to do this. We regularly conduct military exercises, including naval, land, and air exercises. Our armies cooperate, make friends, develop the ability to work together, train together. All this without any kind of military alliance such as the North Atlantic Alliance. Of course, we will continue our strategic cooperation in all areas without exception," he said in an interview with Sky News Arabia.
Lavrov noted that Russia and China have common interests in ensuring their security at a time when the United States is trying to "drag" the NATO architecture into the Asia-Pacific region and create block organizations such as AUCUS, as well as other "four" and "troika" there.

"Of course, this is all done with the openly declared goal of deterring China and Russia. We have to be vigilant, it brings us closer together. We are natural partners," concluded the Russian Foreign Minister.

On Wednesday, the coast guard services of Russia and China held in Vladivostok the first-ever joint exercise "Pacific Patrol 2024" to combat smugglers and rescue people at sea.

On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that warships of the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy and the Navy of the People's Liberation Army of China conducted missile and artillery firing in the Sea of Japan as part of the Ocean-2024 exercises.