MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/. The US uses NATO as a vehicle to keep Europe under its thumb, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with the heads of foreign embassies on the Ukrainian settlement.

"Now we can confidently say that the irresistible desire of the US to retain control of Europe via NATO was the reason [for preserving NATO]. This includes Germany, which still hosts dozens of US military bases which are there to ensure the Germans fall in line with Washington," the minister said.

According to Lavrov, this also keeps the "Germans silent about the US undermining the Nord Stream pipelines just to eliminate a competitor on the European energy market." "They were ready to pay double the price for US liquified gas compared to what they were paying for Russian gas supplies through the pipeline. The US needs NATO specifically to subjugate Europe," the minister pointed out.