MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. The West is always on the lookout for irritants in relations with Russia, and South Caucasus and Central Asia have recently taken center stage in these efforts, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

"It is remarkable that, having unleashed the Ukrainian regime and continuing to inundate it with the most advanced weapons, the West is constantly looking for additional areas where it can irritate the Russian Federation, opening up the second and third fronts," he said during a visit to a Russian military base in Tajikistan, according to a statement on the ministry’s website. "The goal of partitioning of the Russian Federation has been already openly declared by many political scientists and politicians. Central Asia has been named one of such fronts, along with South Caucasus - so far unofficially, but everyone knows it."

Lavrov also noted that very difficult challenges have befallen Afghanistan since the withdrawal of the coalition, which for 20 years did nothing for the constructive development of the Afghan state, only leaving it facing a stronger threat of terrorism and a massive increase of drug trafficking.

"From there, it’s spreading throughout the world," the minister said.