Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the United States of abandoning internationally recognized diplomatic conventions to pursue its own interests, particularly in dominating energy markets, in an interview published Friday.
Lavrov, interviewed by Russian state television, said Washington, in its dealings with Latin America and the Middle East, was “returning us to a world where there is nothing” in international law.
“The United States has officially announced that no one can command it,” he said in the interview, the text of which was posted on the website of the foreign ministry.
“It only cares about its welfare and is ready to defend that welfare by any means – revolution, kidnapping or assassination of the leaders of the countries that own the natural resources that Americans need.
“Venezuela, Iran, our American colleagues do not hide that this is about oil. They have a doctrine to dominate the world’s energy markets.”
Lavrov was talking about the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro in a US military operation in January and the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US and Israeli airstrikes at the end of February.
