The U.S.-led European missile defense must not create dividing lines in the Euro-Atlantic region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during his visit to Moldova on Tuesday.

He said that differences over missile defense must not be allowed to split Europe or counterweigh the universally proclaimed thesis that no country should protect itself at the expense of others.

Moscow sees the American missile defense as a potential threat to its security and demands legal guarantees that it will not be directed against Russia, The Voice of Russia reported.