'Quad nations' meeting at the Leaders' Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 24, 2021 (Reuters)

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov told Sputnik on Tuesday that plans to transform the Quad format (India, Australia, Japan, and the United States) into a prototype of "Asian NATO" will not be realized.

Morgulov said that “I am convinced that the plans of those political engineers who would like to see in it the prototype of Asian NATO on the basis of 'Indo-Pacific' solidarity, which mirrors the Euro-Atlantic alliance, are not destined to come true," adding that “Asian countries do not wish to be drawn into the Sino-US confrontation”.

Neither the formation of AUKUS nor the synchronized reaction of the United States' regional allies — Canada, Japan, and New Zealand intending to "establish contacts" with the alliance — is surprising, he added.

The Russian top diplomat went on to say that "the task is obvious: to form a platform for the eventual establishment of NATO's military potential in the Asia-Pacific region. This can hardly be considered in isolation from the trend of the alliance's turn towards Asia with the undisguised goal of containing China, enshrined in the updated NATO strategy."

According to the diplomat, there are also efforts to include ASEAN countries in the AUKUS+ alliance in order to push Russia and China out of Asia-Pacific cooperation mechanisms.

Morgulov concluded by commenting on the relatively high intensity of joint naval exercises conducted by Japan and the United States near the Russian border, saying that this provokes an increase in tension in the region.