Lavrov Brings Acerbic Pragmatism to Syria Meet With Kerry
By Ken Fireman, Stepan Kravchenko and Ilya Arkhipov - Sep 11, 2013
When New York City instituted a ban on indoor smoking in 2003, United Nations officials told everyone working in the East Side headquarters to comply. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s then-UN ambassador, was having none of it.
Lavrov kept right on smoking cigarettes, arguing that the world body wasn’t under the jurisdiction of the city, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry official who requested anonymity.
Lavrov, 63, who was promoted to Russian foreign minister in 2004 and still holds that position, will bring the same hard-edged attitude to the application of international law when he meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry today in Geneva to discuss the crisis over the Syrian civil war.
“He is clearly more tough-minded than other Russian diplomats,” said Dimitri Simes, president of the Center for the National Interest, a Washington-based research organization specializing in foreign policy.
President Vladimir Putin named Lavrov foreign minister precisely because of this attitude, Simes said. “Putin saw in him a kindred soul, one prepared to stand for Russian national interests, who would not hesitate to be acerbic in debates,” Simes said. Lavrov was picked “to project Russian power, Russian pride, and that’s what he’s doing.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-12/lavrov-brings-acerbic-pragmatism-to-syria-meet-with-kerry.html
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