Russian top diplomat mentions Serbia's NATO bombing, when Russia aims to invade Ukraine

So Lavrov has responded to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

The North Atlantic Alliance cannot be considered protective, given the military operations it has conducted in Yugoslavia, Libya and Afghanistan”, Lavrov said.

“NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, proudly says NATO is a defence alliance. It can hardly be called protective. We should not forget that they bombed Yugoslavia for nearly three months, occupied Libya in opposition to the Security Council resolution, as well as how they were brought to Afghanistan”, the Russian diplomacy chief added.

Lavrov told Russian television, “Prvi channel” that after the end of the Cold War, NATO essentially “ended up being a defence alliance”, while spreading Russia's major concern about the possibility of bringing Ukraine into NATO.

Its entry into the Alliance would truly damage relations between Russia and the West”, he said.

NATO has said it is prepared to increase its presence in Eastern European member states if Russia invades Ukraine, and some coalition member states have offered military equipment to Kiev.

Washington has said it aims at diplomatic solutions to the crisis and that Russia must remove military presence near the Ukrainian border.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he expects to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the coming weeks for another round of negotiations, but Putin will decide how to respond to the American position on Moscow's demands.

Moscow has supported separatists in the battle east of Ukraine, which has claimed the lives of more than 13,200 people since 2014, the year Russia annexed the Crimea.