TEHRAN, Nov. 26 (MNA) – The North Atlantic Alliance has ignored all diplomatic protocol, allowing itself to make statements about the possibility of preemptive strikes on Russia, top Russian diplomat Sergey Lavrov said.

"Just the other day, Mr. Bauer, NATO Military Committee Chair, explicitly stated that it’s no longer enough, and ensuring the defense of the North Atlantic Alliance member states requires strikes on targets in Russia that NATO believes may pose a threat to the bloc. I think there’s nothing to comment on here; it’s just that they have forgotten all etiquette, publicly announcing their real plans," Lavrov noted at the 20th meeting of the heads of security and intelligence agencies of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, according to TASS.

NATO Military Committee Chairman Rob Bauer earlier called for producing more weapons for precision strikes inside Russia in case a conflict broke out.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on November 21 that US-and UK-made missiles had targeted military facilities in the Kursk and Bryansk regions following a move by the US and its NATO allies to authorize the use of their long-range weapons for strikes against Russia. According to Putin, in retaliation for the attacks, Russia for the first time used its newest Oreshnik non-nuclear hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missiles against Ukraine’s Yuzhmash defense industry facility in the city of Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk). The Russian leader emphasized that the West could face dire consequences if its provocative policy further escalated the conflict.

SD/