WW3 FEARS! Russia Says Tensions with the US Getting Close to 'Dangerous' Confrontation.

Russia's top diplomat has warned that relations with the United States have deteriorated to the point of a potentially disastrous standoff between Washington and Moscow.

The Russian Foreign Ministry held a board meeting Wednesday led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who discussed along with his colleagues the current state of the U.S.-Russia relationship. Following the talks, the ministry released a statement characterizing the participants' views of the tortured ties between the two powers.

"It was noted during the discussion that bilateral relations had approached a dangerous confrontational threshold through the fault of Washington," the ministry said, "who have provoked an unprecedented escalation between our states over the recent years."

The ministry warned Moscow was already engaged in a de facto conflict with Washington, which would only face stiffer resistance.

"Russia is subjected to unprecedented pressure that the U.S. pulls its allies into, introducing a strong ideological component to the standoff with Moscow," the ministry said. "This line by Washington, which blatantly violates international law, will continue to come up against unwavering opposition as far as protecting Russia's legitimate interests goes."

The harsh assessment came a day after the Russian ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov identified what he saw as "a lack of confidence, a lack of trust between the United States and Russia" in an interview with Moscow's state-run RT outlet.

"I am trying to find a day when Russia has become an enemy or a rival for the United States and it is rather difficult to say when it happened," Antonov said. "It seems to me that maybe it was 10 years ago but not when the Ukrainian crisis starts."

The U.S.-Russia rivalry dates back at least to the Cold War, but the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s saw initial steps toward cooperation between Washington and Moscow, even after President Vladimir Putin first came to power at the turn of the century.

A decade ago would mark a crucial moment in the great power feud when the 2011 NATO-led intervention in Libya and then Western incursions into Syria were perceived by Russia as undue interference abroad. The 2014 uprising in Ukraine also proved a pivotal point as a leader resisting Western overtures was overthrown and Russia stepped indirectly to secure its interests in the Crimean Peninsula and was accused by Kyiv of supporting pro-Moscow separatists in the east as part of a still-ongoing conflict.