Baltic States – CIS, Legislation, Russia, Security

In the interview, the Russian foreign minister singled out Lithuania as the "most aggressive, Russophobic country" and said it is pushing NATO in an "anti-Russian direction."

Lavrov said NATO colleagues once told him Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania would "calm down" once they joined the alliance in 2004.

"They joined NATO but there was no calm, especially not with our Lithuanian neighbor," the Swedish paper quoted Lavrov as saying.

Lavrov also defended the actions of Russian warplanes this month as they flew over the U.S. Navy destroyer Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea, saying they decided to take a look at the ship "from a safe distance."

"Our planes were carrying out completely legitimate training flights in the international airspace. They saw that a U.S. destroyer with powerful armaments was coming towards our military base and decided to check it out. As soon as they saw who it was, which happened at a safe distance, they turned around and continued their flight," Lavrov said.