MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. Calls from the United States and Europe to establish an Asian NATO should concern the region, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said.

"Recently, calls from the US and Europe to create an Asian equivalent of the North Atlantic Alliance have been growing louder. Some have even proposed a name: the Indo-Pacific Treaty Organization. This does not bode well for Asia – NATO’s historical legacy in Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Libya is well known to everyone. Now, Ukraine has been put to the knife," the senior Russian diplomat told the Russian Arctic and Far East Development portal in an interview.

Russia, he maintained, "has always advocated for a unifying agenda in interstate relations within the Asia-Pacific, fostering open and equal engagement with interested nations."

Moscow is adamant that "the path to a successful future lies exclusively in the realm of joint development: high standards in this area are set by multilateral institutions such as the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union - TASS), the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization - TASS), and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations - TASS)," Rudenko concluded.