Lavrov: US 'directly involved' in Nord Stream pipeline explosion

(Patria) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the United States was directly involved in the explosions that severely damaged the Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea last year, Reuters reported.

Lavrov did not provide evidence for his claim, the agency writes, recalling that Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously accused the United Kingdom of blowing up the pipelines, which London denied. In an interview on state television, Lavrov said, among other things, that the West is lying about Russia's refusal to negotiate on Ukraine and that it is trying to turn Moldova, Georgia, and former Soviet republics in Central Asia against Moscow.

"We see how the entire NATO is at war with us," Lavrov said.

"Now we are trying to push the Ukrainian army's artillery to a distance that will not pose a threat to our territories," he added.

"The longer the range of weapons supplied to the Kyiv regime, the more we will have to push them away from the territories that are part of our country," says Lavrov.

In this context, he said that it is an "objective reality" that Russia expanded its territory by incorporating four regions of Ukraine last year.