MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. The US political establishment is increasingly mulling over integrating Ukraine into NATO, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told TASS.

"We are also aware of the fact that American political circles are increasingly thinking of getting Ukraine integrated into NATO ‘by hook or by crook’," Lavrov stressed.

Russia’s top diplomat criticized Western statements about the inadmissibility of a direct conflict between NATO and Russia as hypocrisy. "The West has insisted on staying above the fray while saying that there should be no direct conflict between NATO and Russia. This is pure hypocrisy. Member states of the alliance have de facto become a party to the conflict already, with Western private military companies and military instructors fighting alongside the Ukrainians," he emphasized. "The Americans have been transferring satellite and other intelligence data to Ukrainian commanders practically in real time while playing a role in planning and conducting military operations," Lavrov said.