Russia FM Lavrov says US poses 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.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that the United States had created an "existential" threat to Russia from Ukraine.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. (REUTERS)

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 U.S. counterparts.