Lavrov rarely speaks this directly - but in Friday's television interview he wasn't minding the diplomatic vocabulary. America is dragging us back to the colonial era, said the Russian foreign minister. Then he listed: coups, kidnappings, assassinations of leaders of resource-rich countries.

The specific examples he cited: the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January and the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei in February - in US-Israeli airstrikes. Heavy accusations, delivered in a calm tone.

Lavrov's central argument is simplified: Washington is talking peace in Ukraine while simultaneously pushing Russia out of global energy markets. The pressure on Europe to abandon Russian gas he called a return to the colonial relationship - with Europe in the role of a dependent province, not an equal partner.

Part of the statements are obvious Russian propaganda - especially the ones about kidnappings and assassinations, which should be taken with great skepticism. But part of the argument about energy pressure on Europe resonates even with analysts who are not sympathetic to Moscow. Europe did indeed replace Russian gas with American LNG - at significantly higher prices.

On the Balkans, where dependence on energy imports is chronic, statements like these are read differently than in Berlin or Brussels. Not because Lavrov must be right - but because the questions he raises cannot be dismissed with a simple: that is Russian propaganda.