‘Minister No’: Lavrov Embodies Moscow’s Steely Posture

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a joint news conference with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias following their talks in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. (AP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a joint news conference with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias following their talks in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. (AP)
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‘Minister No’: Lavrov Embodies Moscow’s Steely Posture

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a joint news conference with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias following their talks in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. (AP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a joint news conference with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias following their talks in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. (AP)

As Russia's top diplomat during the invasion of Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is embodying the Kremlin's defiant posture with a mixture of toughness and sarcasm.

While President Vladimir Putin single-handedly shapes the country’s foreign policy, Lavrov delivers Moscow’s message with a bluntness uncharacteristic of a diplomat.

In the role for nearly 18 years, the 71-year-old Lavrov has seen relations with the West shift from near-friendly to openly hostile, plummeting to a catastrophic new low with Russia's war against Ukraine. The invasion prompted the European Union to freeze the assets of both Putin and Lavrov, among others — an unprecedented blow to Moscow’s pride.

Lavrov's tenure as foreign minister is second only to that of Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, who was in office for 28 years. Like Gromyko, who was nicknamed Mr. Nyet (Mr. No), Lavrov has come to represent the uncompromising face of Kremlin foreign policy vis a vis the West.

He doesn’t mince words when defending what he sees as Moscow’s interests, and that style must appeal to the tough-talking Russian president.

In 2008, Lavrov famously responded to a reprimand from then British Foreign Secretary David Miliband by snapping: “Who are you to (expletive) lecture me?”

Like his boss, Lavrov has tapped into broad public nostalgia for the country’s Soviet-era clout. He has vented anger at the West, depicting the US as arrogant, conceited, treacherous and determined to dominate the world. He has contemptuously dismissed Western allies as stooges obediently toeing Washington’s line to deter Russia.

Standing next to British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss after their meeting last month, a grim-faced Lavrov snapped that their talks were like a “conversation between deaf and dumb.”

After a lifelong diplomatic career, Lavrov looks visibly bored by daily routine. When he appears before the media, he doesn’t bother to hide his irritation at a naive or provocative question, often responding with an air of contempt or plain mockery.

When a CNN reporter in a video call from the Ukrainian capital asked Lavrov whether Moscow wants to topple the Ukrainian leadership, the aide who managed Friday’s briefing interrupted and said it wasn’t his turn to put a question. The reporter continued, and an angry Lavrov weighed in: “He’s discourteous. He’s working in Ukraine now. He’s got infected with discourtesy.”

Lavrov has particular distaste for photographers, showing annoyance at the clacking of camera shutters.

At one news conference, he muttered an expletive into the microphone in apparent anger at disorderly reporters; the expression became a meme, widely adopted in T-shirt designs for the patriotic audience.

Lavrov has weathered endless waves of speculation that he was on the verge of retirement. Instead, he has become one of the longest-lasting members of Putin’s Cabinet and a perennial figure among a changing kaleidoscope of foreign counterparts.

Before becoming foreign minister, he served as Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations for 10 years and liked to have informal chats with journalists, trading news and jokes over a cigarette in the UN corridors. He writes poetry, sings songs on guitar with friends, and eagerly took part in skits with other diplomats at international events when Russia’s ties with the West were less rancorous.

But his smiles and easy ways are a thing of the past now that Lavrov launches daily, angry diatribes against the West over Ukraine, the largest ground conflict Europe has seen since World War II.

On Tuesday, he was barred from flying to Geneva to attend a UN conference after European Union members banned Russian planes from their skies as part of bruising sanctions against Moscow.

Lavrov denounced what he called the “outrageous” move in a video address to the UN session, charging that “the EU countries are trying to avoid a candid face-to-face dialogue or direct contacts designed to help identify political solutions to pressing international issues.”

“The West clearly has lost self-control in venting anger against Russia and has destroyed its own rules and institutions, including respect for private property,” Lavrov said. “It’s necessary to put an end to the arrogant Western philosophy of self-superiority, exclusivity and total permissiveness.”



Israeli Plan to Seize Gaza Alarms Many: 'What's Left for You to Bomb?'

Displaced Palestinians snatch bread loaves distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Displaced Palestinians snatch bread loaves distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
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Israeli Plan to Seize Gaza Alarms Many: 'What's Left for You to Bomb?'

Displaced Palestinians snatch bread loaves distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Displaced Palestinians snatch bread loaves distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

An Israeli plan to seize the Gaza Strip and expand the military operation has alarmed many in the region. Palestinians are exhausted and hopeless, pummeled by 19 months of heavy bombing. Families of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza are terrified that the possibility of a ceasefire is slipping further away.

“What’s left for you to bomb?” asked Moaz Kahlout, a displaced man from Gaza City who said many resort to GPS to locate the rubble of homes wiped out in the war.

Israeli officials said Monday that Cabinet ministers approved the plan to seize Gaza and remain in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time — news that came hours after the military chief said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers.

Details of the plan were not formally announced, and its exact timing and implementation were not clear. It may be another measure by Israel to try to pressure Hamas into making concessions in ceasefire negotiations.

The war began after Hamas-led group attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, about 35 of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s ensuing offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, who don’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.

“They destroyed us, displaced us and killed us,” said Enshirah Bahloul, a woman from the southern city of Khan Younis. “We want safety and peace in this world. We do not want to remain homeless, hungry, and thirsty.”

Some Israelis are also opposed to the plan. Hundreds of people protested outside the parliament Monday as the government opened for its summer session. One person was arrested.

Families of hostages held in Gaza are afraid of what an expanded military operation or seizure could mean for their relatives.

“I don’t see the expansion of the war as a solution — it led us absolutely nowhere before. It feels like déjà vu from the year ago,” said Adi Alexander, father of Israeli-American Edan Alexander, a soldier captured in the Oct. 7 attack.

The father is pinning some hopes on US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East, set for next week. Israeli leaders have said they don't plan to expand the operation in Gaza until after Trump’s visit, leaving the door open for a possible deal. Trump isn't expected to visit Israel, but he and other American officials have frequently spoken about Edan Alexander, the last American-Israeli held in Gaza who is still believed to be alive.

Moshe Lavi, the brother-in-law of Omri Miran, 48, the oldest hostage still believed to be alive, said the family was concerned about the plan.

“We hope it’s merely a signal to Hamas that Israel is serious in its goal to dismantle its governmental and military capabilities as a leverage for negotiations, but it’s unclear whether this is an end or a means,” he said.

Meanwhile, every day, dozens of Palestinians gather outside a charity kitchen that distributes hot meals to displaced families in southern Gaza. Children thrust pots or buckets forward, pushing and shoving in a desperate attempt to bring food to their families.

“What should we do?” asked Sara Younis, a woman from the southernmost city of Rafah, as she waited for a hot meal for her children. “There’s no food, no flour, nothing.”

Israel cut off Gaza from all imports in early March, leading to dire shortages of food, medicine and other supplies. Israel says the goal is to pressure Hamas to free the remaining hostages.

Aid organizations have warned that malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in Gaza. The United Nations says the vast majority of the population relies on aid.

Aid groups have expressed concerns that gains to avert famine made during this year's ceasefire have been diminishing.

Like most aid groups in Gaza, Tikeya has run out of most food and has cooked almost exclusively pasta for the past two weeks.

Nidal Abu Helal, a displaced man from Rafah who works at the charity, said that the group is increasingly concerned that people, especially children, will die of starvation.

“We’re not afraid of dying from missiles," he said. "We’re afraid that our children will die of hunger in front of us.”