OREANDA-NEWS. France has criticized the United States and Australia because of the unexpected termination of the contract of the French firm Naval Group with the government in Canberra for the supply of 12 submarines to Australia worth almost 56 billion euros. «To put it bluntly, this is just a stab in the back. This is a destruction of trust, and I am very angry», French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in an interview with France Info radio station on Thursday, September 16.

Earlier, the United States, Great Britain and Australia announced the creation of a new block against China called AUKUS. As part of this pact, the United States and Britain promised to help Australia create it's own nuclear submarine fleet. As a result, Australia broke the already signed contract with France for the supply of French submarines with a conventional engine.

«We have established a relationship of trust with Australia. This trust has now been betrayed», Le Drian stated. He also accused US President Joe Biden of acting in the style of his predecessor Donald Trump.

«This unilateral, brutal and unpredictable decision is very similar to what Mr. Trump did. From the words of President Biden, we suddenly learned that the contract concluded between France and Australia has been terminated, and the United States will offer the Australians a nuclear deal, the contents of which we do not know anything. That's not how you treat your allies. We recently talked about all this with the United States and now this gap. This does not fit into any gate», the French Foreign Minister stressed.

For her part, French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly called the incident «very bad news for the commitment to these promises» and a terrible decision in the field of international politics. «Now we see how the United States treats its allies and partners», she said. Parly also promised to do everything to minimize losses for the Naval Group. «Explanations will be required. We have contracts. We need the Australians to explain how they intend to get out of this», she said.