Who Is Sergei Lavrov? Putin’s Close Aide, Fierce Critic Of Western Democracy, In Alaska For Talks With Trump

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Alaska on Friday for a closely watched US summit, wearing a sweatshirt bearing the insignia of the former Soviet Union,  a move widely interpreted as a pointed political statement.  

Sergei Lavrov in Alaska

Dressed in a gray sweatshirt with the letters, Lavrov was seen arriving at the Anchorage summit building. The shirt hidden under a black jacket was marked with the letters “CCCP,” a Russian acronym for USSR. It gave a symbolic message at an important meeting and a place that Russia previously sold to the US. The shirt seemed to share the Kremlin’s wishes of reviving the aspects of the former Communist state, something Russian President Vladimir Putin has time and again vowed to do.

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Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, nd has been giving hints to the dissolution of the Soviet Union as “the greatest geopolitical disaster of the century.” Lavrov’s choice of words on his shirt was also taken as a provocation to Ukraine, which became independent when the USSR dissolved in 1991.

“We have good arguments, we have our own clear and understandable position,” Lavrov said on arrival. “We will share it here.

Who is Sergei Lavrov? The Longest Serving Russian Official

Born in Moscow in March 1950, Lavrov has served throughout his professional career in the Russian Foreign Ministry, including in Soviet times. On graduation from the elite Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in 1972, he was assigned his first diplomatic posting in Sri Lanka.

Lavrov subsequently became Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations between 1994 and 2004, during which time there were major international crises like the Kosovo War and the invasion of Iraq led by the US. He gained a reputation as someone who vigorously defended Russian foreign policy and was regarded as one of the most powerful members of the UN Security Council.

Sergei Lavrov as Foreign Minister

President Putin appointed Lavrov foreign minister in 2004. He succeeded Igor Ivanov, who had been appointed to the position of foreign minister by then-President Boris Yeltsin. In 2018, Lavrov was reappointed when Putin established a new government for his fourth term. 

Lavrov has been a career-long diplomat with 31 years of experience serving the country. He is Russia’s longest-serving government official, outranking the time served by any other present-day Russian diplomat.

Lavrov’s extended term of office, particularly under Putin, has frequently attracted American criticism and harsh comments. Hillary Clinton, in her previous capacity as US Secretary of State, once criticized him for not being respectful to her while negotiating. Other Obama administration officials referred to him as intransigent and curt.

While others have accused him of being hardly more than a mouthpiece for Putin’s policies.

Rex Tillerson, former Secretary of State under the previous President Donald Trump, reportedly said in 2017, “You cannot tango with Lavrov because he is not allowed to dance.”

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