Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of threatening Russia’s national security Sunday, saying Washington had taken “aggressive steps,” the RIA news agency reported.

He made the comments in an interview with Russia’s Channel One to be aired in full later Sunday.

A transcript of the interview was made available in advance of broadcast on Russia’s foreign ministry website Lavrov accused Washington of “Russophobia.”

"We've noted a fundamental change of circumstances concerning the aggressive Russophobia that is currently the foundation of U.S. politics on Russia,” he said. “We're talking not just rhetorical Russophobia, but aggressive steps that really affect our national interests, threaten our security."

Related: New Cold War? Russia, U.S. Relations at 40-Year Low

He continued: “This is NATO and its military infrastructure getting closer to our borders, deployment there of American heavy weapons, aviation of the North Atlantic Alliance, air defense, in both its European and Asian segments along the perimeter of our borders and the borders of our allies. Of course, the sanctions are an example of an unfriendly, even hostile act.”