Nato head Jens Stoltenberg has told the BBC that Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea are increasingly working together against Western interests as an ‘alliance of authoritarian powers’.
Stoltenberg was speaking in the BBC news programme, ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’.
The world was now ‘much more dangerous, much more unpredictable’ and ‘much more violent’, he said.
The ‘authoritarian’ grouping of China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran were becoming ‘more and more aligned’.
He said China was ‘propping up the Russian war economy, delivering key parts to the defence industry, and in return, Moscow is mortgaging its future to Beijing’. Russia was providing technology to Iran and North Korea in return for ammunition and military equipment.
Stoltenberg said Nato had to work with other countries beyond its geographical confines, such as Japan and South Korea, to ‘stand up against this stronger alliance of authoritarian powers’.
The BBC reports that on the Middle East conflict, Stoltenberg said it was ‘very important’ that the US and other Nato countries conveyed ‘a very clear message to Israel’ that they have to do ‘significantly more’ to protect civilians and aid workers after the World Central Kitchen convoy attack.