MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. Statements made by ‘anonymous Pentagon officials’ about a ‘decapitating strike’ on the Kremlin essentially amount to a threat aimed at physically eliminating the president of Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed in an interview with TASS.

"The one who’s gone the farthest of all the others is in Washington. There are some ‘anonymous officials’ from the Pentagon who have actually enunciated threats to deliver a ‘decapitating strike’ on the Kremlin, which is in fact an assassination threat against the Russian president," Lavrov clarified.

"If someone really has such ideas, then this someone should think long and hard about the possible consequences of such plans," the foreign minister cautioned.

Moreover, Lavrov also recalled confrontational signals emanating from the West in the nuclear sphere.

"It seems that they have shed all vestiges of respectability," he noted. "The notorious [ex-British PM] Liz Truss is a vivid example given that she directly and publicly said during her pre-election campaign that she was ready to order a nuclear strike," the chief diplomat recounted.

"I am not even mentioning here the Kiev regime’s over-the-top provocations," Lavrov noted. "[Ukrainian President] Vladimir Zelensky had gone as far as urging NATO states to deliver preventive nuclear strikes against Russia. This crosses the line of what is acceptable. However, we heard far worse statements from figures within the [Kiev] regime,” the foreign minister pointed out.