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Lavrov accuses NATO of fanning tensions in South China Sea
"The South China Sea is now becoming one of those regions where NATO is not averse, as they once did in Ukraine, to escalating tensions," Lavrov told a news conference.
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Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov checks his watch during a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart at the foreign ministry headquarters in Iran's capital Tehran on June 23, 2022. (AFP/Atta Kenare)
R
ussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused NATO of whipping up tensions near China in a way that posed risks for Russia.
"The South China Sea is now becoming one of those regions where NATO is not averse, as they once did in Ukraine, to escalating tensions," Lavrov told a news conference.
"We know how seriously China takes such provocations, not to mention Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait, and we understand that NATO's playing with fire in these regions carries threats and risks for the Russian Federation. It is as close to our shores and to our seas as Chinese territory," he said.
Lavrov said that was why Russia was developing military cooperation with China and conducting joint exercises.
"The fact that NATO members under the leadership of the United States are trying to create an explosive situation there, in the wake of Europe, is well understood by everyone," he said.
Lavrov did not provide evidence to back his assertions, but alluded to the formation of the AUKUS alliance between the United States, Britain and Australia.
He also accused NATO of trying to drag India into what he called an anti-Russian and anti-Chinese alliance at a time when he said the West was attempting to squeeze out Russian influence.
Also on Thursday, Lavrov said that the United States had created an "existential" threat to Russia from Ukraine.
Lavrov was speaking at a news conference where he also accused the United States and NATO of being direct participants in the Ukraine war.
He said Russia had never walked away from contacts with the United States but that it had not heard any "substantive ideas" from its US counterparts.
Lavrov also defended a Russian campaign that has used air, drone and missile strikes to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure, attacks that Kyiv and the West have called war crimes.
"We disable energy facilities (in Ukraine) that allow you (the West) to pump lethal weapons into Ukraine to kill Russians," Lavrov said.
"So don't say that the US and NATO are not participants in this war - you are directly participating. Including not only with the supply of weapons, but also with the training of personnel - you train the (Ukrainian) military on your territory."
