Sergei lavrov biography origine

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 - 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.

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 Security