THE new security partnership between Australia, Britain and the United States surprised Nato more than its supposed adversaries, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today.

“It came as a total surprise and a shock for Nato,” she said, adding: “It came as an absolute surprise not for those whom the US, Australia and the UK call their opponents and whom they are collaborating against, but for their allies and the military and political blocs that the US and the UK are part of.”

Paris was angered when Australia signed the pact to build nuclear-powered submarines, in the process pulling out of a £27 billion contract signed with France in 2016. 

Know by the acronym Aukus, the agreement, which also covers cruise missiles and artificial intelligence, has been blasted by China and North Korea as a threat to regional peace and stability.

The diplomatic row has seen France recall its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington and pull out of defence talks with Britain that had been planned for this week.

The European Union is backing Paris, with officials from the neoliberal economic bloc demanding answers and an apology from Australia in the run-up to talks on a key trade deal.

“One of our member states has been treated in a way that is not acceptable, so we want to know what happened and why,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this week. 

“Therefore, you first of all clarify that, before you keep on going with business as usual.”

Bernd Lange, who chairs the European Parliament’s international trade committee, said that the treatment of France had been “unkind” and that Australia needed to de-escalate the situation.