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Sergey Lavrov
Сергей Лавров
Сергей Лавров (18-11-2022) (cropped).jpg
Lavrov in 2022
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Assumed office
9 March 2004
President
Prime Minister
Preceded by Igor Ivanov
Ambassador of Russia to the United Nations
In office
22 September 1994 – 12 July 2004
Nominated by Boris Yeltsin
Preceded by Yuli Vorontsov
Succeeded by Andrey Denisov
Personal details
Born
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov

(1950-03-21) 21 March 1950 (age 74)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Political party United Russia
Spouse
Maria Lavrova
(m. 1971)
Children 1
Alma mater Moscow State Institute of International Relations
Awards Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation;
Full Cavalier of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"
Signature

Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (Russian: Сергей Викторович Лавров; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat who has served as the foreign minister of Russia since 2004. He is the longest-serving foreign minister since the Tsarist era.

Lavrov served as the permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations from 1994 to 2004.

Early life and education

Lavrov was born on 21 March 1950 in Moscow, to an Armenian father from Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, and a Russian mother from Noginsk, Russian SFSR. His father's surname was originally Kalantaryan. His mother worked in the Soviet Ministry for Foreign Trade. Lavrov graduated from high school with a silver medal. Since his favorite class was physics, he planned to enter either the National Research Nuclear University or the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, but he entered the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and graduated in 1972.

During his education at the MGIMO, Lavrov studied international relations. Soon he learned Sinhalese, then the only official language of Sri Lanka, as well as Dhivehi, the official language of the Maldives. Moreover, Lavrov learned English and French. After he was admitted to the university, Lavrov, along with other students, was sent for a month to a student construction brigade building the Ostankino Tower.

During his summer vacations, Lavrov also worked in his university's student construction brigades in Khakassia, Tuva and the Russian Far East. Each semester, Lavrov with his fellow students conducted drama performances, which were later presented on the main stage of the university. During the third year of his studies, Lavrov was married.

Career

Soviet diplomat in Sri Lanka (1972–1976)

Lavrov graduated in 1972. According to the rules of that time, a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations had to work for the Foreign Ministry for a certain amount of time. Lavrov was employed in the Soviet embassy in Sri Lanka as an advisor, as he was already a specialist on the country. At the time, the Soviet Union and Sri Lanka had close market and economic cooperation and the Soviet Union launched the production of natural rubber in the country.

The Soviet embassy in Sri Lanka also maintained relations with the Maldives. The embassy in Sri Lanka employed only 24 diplomats. Lavrov was given the task of continuously analysing the situation in the country, but he also worked as a translator, personal secretary and assistant to Rafiq Nishonov, who would later become the 12th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbek SSR. In addition, he gained the diplomatic rank of an attaché.

USSR Section for International Economic Relations and the UN

In 1976, Lavrov returned to Moscow. He worked as a third and second secretary in the Section for International Economic Relations of the USSR. There, he was involved in analytics and his office also worked with various international organizations, including the United Nations.

In 1981, he was sent as a senior adviser to the Soviet mission to the United Nations in New York City.

In 1988, Lavrov returned to Moscow and was named Deputy Chief of the Section for International Economic Relations of the USSR. Between 1990 and 1992 he worked as Director of the International Organization of the Soviet Foreign Ministry.

Soviet-to-CIS transition (1990–1994)

In October 1990, Andrey Kozyrev, who was in charge of monitoring international organizations at the time, was named Foreign Minister of the Russian SFSR. In that year, the powers of the Soviet Foreign Ministry and the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic were distributed. Until then the Russian SFSR had only a ceremonial role. In October 1991, the foreign ministers of all Soviet republics, except Georgia and the Baltic states, held a meeting where they dealt with the Union of Foreign Ministries.

In November 1990, the State Council decided to change its name from the Union of Foreign Ministries to the Foreign Ministry of the Soviet Union. In April 1991, he was named deputy foreign minister.

In December 1991 the Foreign Ministry of Soviet Russia became the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation.

In 1992, Lavrov was named director of the Department for International Organizations and Global Issues in the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation.

Lavrov was asked to oversee the activities of the Human Rights and International Cultural Cooperation and the two departments – for the CIS countries, international organizations and international economic cooperation.

Lavrov was promoted to the diplomatic rank of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary — the highest diplomatic rank in the Russian Federation — by the Decree of the President of Russia of 5 June 1992 No. 568.

Russian Permanent Representative to the UN (1994–2004)

Lavrov worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 1994 when he returned to work in the United Nations, this time as the Permanent Representative of Russia. While in the latter position, he was the President of the United Nations Security Council in December 1995, June 1997, July 1998, October 1999, December 2000, April 2002, and June 2003.

Foreign minister of Russia (2004–present)

Evstafiev-Sergey-Lavrov
Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, 17 September 2004
President George W. Bush and Sergey Lavrov
Lavrov Meets with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office of the White House, 7 March 2006
Barack Obama meets with Sergey Lavrov 5-7-09
Lavrov Meets with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office of the White House, 7 May 2009
Msc2011 SZ 002 Lavrov Clinton
Lavrov with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Munich, Germany, on 5 February 2011

On 9 March 2004, President Vladimir Putin appointed Lavrov to the post of minister of foreign affairs. He succeeded Igor Ivanov in the post.

Lavrov held on to his position through Vladimir Putin's Second Cabinet while Dmitri Medvedev occupied the presidency from 2008 to 2012.

On 21 May 2012, Lavrov was reappointed foreign minister to the cabinet led by prime minister Dimitri Medvedev.

Lavrov is regarded as continuing in the style of his predecessor: a brilliant diplomat but a civil servant rather than a politician. A Russian foreign policy expert at London's Chatham House has described him as "a tough, reliable, extremely sophisticated negotiator" but adds that "he's not part of Putin's inner sanctum" and that the toughening of Russian foreign policy has got very little to do with him.

US politicians have been much more critical in their appraisal of Lavrov, seeing him as emblematic of President Putin's resurgent violent foreign policies. Then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton found that Lavrov treated her poorly during negotiations, like a "jerk."

On 15 January 2020, he resigned as part of the cabinet, after President Vladimir Putin delivered the Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly, in which he proposed several amendments to the constitution. On 21 January 2020, he maintained his position in Mikhail Mishustin's Cabinet.

Spominska slovesnost in odprtje muzeja v spomin na umrle sovjetske vojne ujetnike 2014 6
Lavrov in Maribor, Slovenia, during the opening ceremony for a museum commemorating the Soviet soldiers who died in Nazi captivity, 8 July 2014
Secretary Kerry Shakes Hands With Foreign Minister Lavrov in Moscow, Russia (25726476430)
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Lavrov before a bilateral meeting in Moscow, on 24 March 2016

Personal life

Lavrov speaks Russian, English, Dhivehi, French and Sinhala fluently.

Lavrov is a keen sportsman. He likes to watch football games on television and is an ardent fan of the Moscow club Spartak Moscow. He has been married since 1971 to Maria Lavrova and they have one daughter and two grandchildren. Their daughter Ekaterina Sergeyevna Lavrova, who lived in the US and London while her father was working for the United Nations, is a graduate of Columbia University. Having stayed in New York City until 2014, and spent a long time outside Russia, she is not fluent in Russian. She is married to Russian businessman Alexander Vinokurov.

Honors

RIAN archive 718298 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev bestows state awards on Russia's diplomats
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev awarding Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 2nd class, July 2010
Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov Kremlin 21 May 2015
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lavrov, awarded with the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st class, May 2015

Russian Honors

  • He is an honorary member of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society.
  • Order of Sergius of Radonezh 1st Class (Russia, 2015) – For his political efforts that have benefited the Russian Orthodox Church
  • Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st class (2015), 2nd class (2010), 3rd class (2005) and 4th class (1998)
  • Order of Honour (1996)
  • Honoured Worker of the Diplomatic Service of the Russian Federation (2004)
  • Order of the Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow, 1st class (Russian Orthodox Church, 2010) and 2nd class
  • Honorary medal "For participation in the programs of the United Nations" (UN Association of Russia, 2005)
  • Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation (2020)

International Honors

Orden del Sol
Grand Cross of the Peruvian Order of the Sun
  • Order of Friendship (Kazakhstan, 2005)
  • Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun (Peru, 2007)
  • Order of Friendship of Peoples (Belarus, 2006)
  • Order of Friendship (Vietnam, 2009)
  • Order of Friendship (Laos)
  • Medal of Honour (South Ossetia, 19 March 2010) – for his great personal contribution to strengthening international security, peace and stability in the Caucasus, the development of friendly relations between the Republic of South Ossetia and the Russian Federation
  • Order of St. Mashtots (Armenia, 19 August 2010) – for outstanding contribution to the consolidation and development of age-old Armenian-Russian friendly relations
  • Gold Medal of the Yerevan State University (Armenia, 2007)
  • Honorary Doctorate in Diplomacy from University of Piraeus. (Greece 2016)
  • Order of the Serbian Flag, 1st class (Serbia, 2016)
  • Order of the Republika Srpska, (Republic of Srpska, 2018)
  • Order of Saint Agatha Knight Grand Cross San Marino 2019
  • Order of Friendship, Uzbekistan 2020
  • Order of the Leopard 1st Class, Kazakhstan 2020
  • Order of Makarios III Grand Cross (Cyprus 2020)
  • Order of the Union (UAE 2021)

Rescinded honorary doctorate

  • Lavrov was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Tromsø in Norway in 2011 for agreeing on the border between Norway and Russia. In 2022 due to his involvement in the invasion of Ukraine and related violations of international law the degree was revoked. Lavrov is the only person to have had an honorary doctoral degree rescinded in Norway.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Serguéi Lavrov para niños

  • List of current foreign ministers
  • Foreign relations of Russia

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