# Lavrov: NATO desperately seeking reasons to prolong its artificial existence

https://mins.news/en/item/43171

- TASS, 2026-09-03 05:20 UTC
- World
- Original: https://tass.com/politics/2181699

> Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said NATO is desperately looking for pretexts to prolong what he called its “totally artificial” existence. He said the alliance should have dissolved after the Soviet Union collapsed, like the Warsaw Pact, but instead used Afghanistan and later a fabricated Russian threat to justify preserving the military bloc.