Russia condemns the West’s interference in the internal affairs of Serbia, Russian Foreign Minister said on Monday after hosting Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric in Moscow.

“We condemn this practice and insist that the principles of non-interference in internal affairs be strictly observed by all, above all by our Western colleagues,’’ Lavrov said at a joint news conference.

The Russian foreign minister pointed to the role of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Western non-governmental organizations in stoking tensions in countries.

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Tension in countries where they want to have more leverage, while ignoring core interests of these nations.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Vulin told RIA Novosti in early February that the West had been sponsoring mass protests rocking the Balkan nation since November.

He said that the freeze in USAID funding would bring no immediate end to demonstrations because the EU had vowed to take up the baton from the U.S. to finance protest leaders.