Russia says the United States had a firm judicial base on the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a Moscow newspaper on Thursday that the U.S. operation was conducted as a self-defense action in accordance with the UN Charter.

He said no one in the world has any doubts that the terrible terror attacks on September 11, 2001 and others were all masterminded by bin Laden, and added that al-Qaida has been responsible for the terror attacks in Russia too.