MOSCOW (AP) – As Russia’s top diplomat during the invasion of UkraineForeign Minister Sergei Lavrov embodies the Kremlin’s provocative stance with a mixture of toughness and sarcasm.
While President Vladimir Putin himself determines the country’s foreign policy, Lavrov conveys Moscow’s message with uncharacteristic of a diplomat’s directness.
In his role for nearly 18 years, Lavrov, 71, has seen relations with the West shift from near-friendly to openly hostile, falling to a catastrophically new low with Russia’s war against Ukraine.. The invasion has forced the European Union to freeze the assets of both Putin and Lavrov, among others, an unprecedented blow to Moscow’s pride.
Lavrov’s term as foreign minister is second only to that of Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, who served for 28 years. Like Gromyko, nicknamed Mr. Nietzsche (Mr. Ne), Lavrov has come to represent the Kremlin’s uncompromising foreign policy toward the West.
He is not surprised when he defends what he sees as Moscow’s interests, and this style must be to the liking of the tough Russian president.
In 2008, Lavrov famously responded to a rebuke by then-British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, saying: “Who are you to lecture me?”
Like his boss, Lavrov touched on widespread public nostalgia for the country’s Soviet-era influence. He expressed anger at the West, portraying the United States as arrogant, arrogant, insidious and determined to dominate the world. He scornfully dismissed Western allies as puppets obediently following Washington’s line of deterrence.
Standing next to British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss after their meeting last month, Lavrov said with a grim face that their conversations were like “a conversation between the deaf and the dumb.”
After a long diplomatic career, Lavrov seems visibly bored with everyday life. When he appears in front of the media, he does not bother to hide his irritation from a naive or provocative question, often answering with a look of contempt or simple mockery.
When a CNN reporter in a video call from the Ukrainian capital asked Lavrov if Moscow wanted to oust the Ukrainian leadership, the aide who led the briefing on Friday broke off and said it was not his turn to ask a question. The reporter continued, and an angry Lavrov weighed: “He is rude. He is currently working in Ukraine. He became infected with rudeness. “
Lavrov is particularly hostile to photographers, showing annoyance at the snap of the camera shutters.
At a press conference, he muttered curses into the microphone in obvious anger at the disorderly reporters; the expression became a meme, widespread in the design of t-shirts for patriotic audiences.
Lavrov endured endless waves of speculation that he was on the verge of retirement. Instead, he has become one of the longest-serving members of Putin’s cabinet and an eternal figure in a changing kaleidoscope of foreign counterparts.
Prior to becoming foreign minister, he served as Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations for 10 years and enjoyed informal talks with journalists, exchanging news and cigarette jokes in UN corridors. He writes poetry, sings guitar songs with friends, and eagerly engages in sketches with other diplomats at international events when Russia’s ties to the West were less vicious.
But his smiles and easy-going ways are a thing of the past now that Lavrov is daily angry at the West for Ukraine, the biggest land conflict Europe has seen since World War II.
He was banned from flying to Geneva on Tuesday to attend a UN conference after EU members banned Russian planes from the skies as part of sanctions against Moscow.
Lavrov condemned what he called an “outrageous” move in a video address to the UN session, accusing that EU countries are trying to avoid open face-to-face dialogue or direct contacts designed to help find political solutions to pressing international issues. problems ”
“The West has clearly lost control of its outburst of anger against Russia and destroyed its own rules and institutions, including respect for private property,” Lavrov said. “It is necessary to put an end to the arrogant Western philosophy of self-supremacy, exclusivity and complete permissiveness.
But Western diplomats from dozens of countries left the room in Geneva when Lavrov appeared on the big screen, leaving his feet to show his anger at Moscow and virtually saying no to him and Russian diplomacy.
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