Sergei Lavrov Quote

Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (Russian: Сергей Викторович Лавров, IPA: [sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ lɐˈvrof]; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2004. He is the longest-serving Russian foreign minister since Andrei Gromyko during the Soviet Union.
Lavrov was born in Moscow and graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in 1972. He received his first Soviet diplomatic posting in Sri Lanka, and speaks fluent Sinhala, Dhivehi, English, and French, in addition to his native Russian. From 1981 to 1988 Lavrov held several posts in the Soviet Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York City. Starting in the late 1980s he was deputy director and then director of the Foreign Ministry's Department of International Organizations before becoming a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1992. Lavrov was the permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations from 1994 to 2004. His tenure in that role coincided with several crises, namely the Kosovo War and the US-led invasion of Iraq. Lavrov gained a reputation for assertively defending Russia's foreign policy interests and was considered to be the most influential member of the United Nations Security Council. He was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in March 2004.