MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. The West was looking for some sort of pretext to "get its claws into" Russia after Moscow had come to be seen as too independent a player in the international arena, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

"[The West] was waiting for a pretext to get its claws into Russia. They were waiting for a chance to do this because they had begun to see Russia as too independent a player, which, if perhaps not building up as much economic power as China or India, was nevertheless among the leading world economies and holds rather weighty moral and political stances in the international arena, advocating from a position of justice on those issues that are of critical importance for the developing countries," he said in an interview with the "Bolshaya Igra" ("The Great Game") public affairs program on Russia’s Channel One television.

According to the top Russian diplomat, the West is loath to listen to Russia’s criticism of its attempts to "live at the expense of others" in the post-colonial era.