Sergey lavrov biography
By Patrick Jackson |
Sergei Lavrov was Russia's man at the UN for a decade |
Sergei Lavrov is the formidable face of Russia's assertive new foreign policy, a minister who clearly relishes his task after fighting his country's corner at the United Nations.
When he became foreign minister in March 2004 - the first to be appointed by President Vladimir Putin - Mr Lavrov had already served as Russian ambassador to the UN for a decade.
Moscow's man in New York during the Kosovo and Iraq wars now tackles the same issues but from a different platform, and with a much stronger hand.
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He is the Kremlin's negotiator par excellence, Western analysts say, though he gives the impression of being his own man.
Where his predecessors were low-profile, Mr Lavrov, a tall man described by other diplomats as a "rather noble, masculine figure with rugged good looks", takes over the room.
"I think everybody viewed him as the most powerful personality on the Secu Vladimir Putin CEB