Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov: Diplomacy was yesterday

No foreign minister has been in office as long as Sergey Lavrov. For years he was considered a tough but valued negotiator – but he recently gambled away this reputation step by step.

In 2005, as a glance at the Russian television archive shows, the Russian foreign minister was clearly on the bright side of power. At a colorful evening on the sidelines of an ASEAN conference, he appeared as a Jedi Knight: with a hooded cape and lightsaber – and caused general amusement as the keeper of peace and justice in the galaxy.

Most of his colleagues have now stopped laughing. Because the way in which Sergey Lavrov now appears as the protector of the Russian world has nothing in common with the snappy jokes and targeted taunts for which he was famous and sometimes notorious since his time as Russia’s representative at the United Nations.

Outrageous border crossings

Explanations such as those on Italian television, such as those on Italian television as to why the special operation in Ukraine was necessary and why the country had to be denazified even though the president is a Jew, are perceived as clearly crossing borders: “If I remember correctly, I hope I’m not wrong Hitler also has Jewish blood. So that doesn’t mean anything. The wise Jewish people say that the most fervent anti-Semites are usually Jews.”

Ahead of the anniversary of the victory over Hitler’s Germany, Lavrov claimed that the West was trying to rip out and destroy the glorious pages of Russian history. He wants to make criminals out of winners. Promote Fascism and Russophobia. The historical truth, according to the Foreign Minister, is at stake, the security, interests and culture of Russia: “In fact, the future of the world is at stake. It’s about what this world will be like: unipolar under the command of the United States as Washington wants and as all other Western countries have already accepted, or fairly and democratically.”

Always on the Kremlin line

The stunned Western diplomatic circles say that grotesque claims are cynical distortions of facts. US diplomat John Negroponte explained in 2016 that Lavrov’s morality is the Russian state. In fact, Lavrov does not only represent the Kremlin line. He defends her. Under any circumstances, on any subject, by any means. Gladly also with polemics: “You know, I thought there were only adults here.”

Lavrov has mastered the entire repertoire from dripping sarcasm to subtle irony to clear words. His rants are feared, as is his intransigence in negotiations, in which he has often successfully used all his diplomatic experience in the past.

Long-established respect lost

The respect he earned as a long-serving chief diplomat is no longer felt on the international stage. When he started his speech to the UN Human Rights Council at the beginning of March, around 140 diplomats demonstratively left the room in Geneva. It was a scene that spoke louder than words.