Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed his country’s preparedness to use “any means” to disrupt plans by the United States and its allies aimed at defeating Moscow in its military campaign in Ukraine. 

He made the remarks during an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson released on Thursday.

Lavrov said that Russia’s test launch of a new hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile last month sent a message to the West about the country’s readiness to defend its legitimate interests.

The United States and its allies, which provide long-range weapons to Kiev, “must understand that we would be ready to use any means not to allow them to succeed in what they call the strategic defeat of Russia.”

On November 21, the Russian military successfully fired the Oreshnik missile, meaning hazel tree, at a military industrial facility in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said in a TV address that the strike was a response to Ukrainian attacks on military facilities situated in Russian territory.

He further noted that “there are currently no ways of counteracting” the new missile that travelled at 10 times the speed of sound.

Speaking to senior Russian defense officials, Putin warned that tests of the Oreshnik missile would continue, “including in combat conditions”.

Also in his interview, the top Russian diplomat said Moscow wants to “avoid any misunderstanding” with Washington and its allies, and thus it “will send additional messages if they don’t draw necessary conclusions.”

“We don’t want to aggravate the situation, but since ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) and other long-range weapons are being used against mainland Russia …, we are sending signals,” he pointed out.

“We hope that the last one, a couple of weeks ago, the signal with the new weapon system called Oreshnik, was taken seriously.”

Russia launched what it called a special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022 partly to prevent NATO’s eastward expansion after warning that the US-led military alliance was following an “aggressive line” against Moscow.

Russia has repeatedly warned that the flow of Western arms to Ukraine is prolonging the conflict.