moscow as russias top diplomat during the invasion of ukraine foreign minister sergey lavrov is embodying the kremlins defiant posture with a mixture of toughness and sarcasmwhile president vladimir putin singlehandedly shapes the countrys foreign policy lavrov delivers moscows message with a bluntness uncharacteristic of a diplomatin the role for nearly 18 years the 71yearold lavrov has seen relations with the west shift from nearfriendly to openly hostile plummeting to a catastrophic new low with russias war against ukraine the invasion prompted the european union to freeze the assets of both putin and lavrov among others an unprecedented blow to moscows pridelavrovs 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 westhe doesnt mince words when defending what he sees as moscows interests and that style must appeal to the toughtalking russian presidentin 2008 lavrov famously responded to a reprimand from then british foreign secretary david miliband by snapping who are you to expletive lecture melike his boss lavrov has tapped into broad public nostalgia for the countrys sovietera 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 washingtons line to deter russiastanding next to british foreign secretary liz truss after their meeting last month a grimfaced lavrov snapped that their talks were like a conversation between deaf and dumbafter a lifelong diplomatic career lavrov looks visibly bored by daily routine when he appears before the media he doesnt bother to hide his irritation at a naive or provocative question often responding with an air of contempt or plain mockerywhen 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 fridays briefing interrupted and said it wasnt his turn to put a question the reporter continued and an angry lavrov weighed in hes discourteous hes working in ukraine now hes got infected with discourtesylavrov has particular distaste for photographers showing annoyance at the clacking of camera shuttersat one news conference he muttered an expletive into the microphone in apparent anger at disorderly reporters the expression became a meme widely adopted in tshirt designs for the patriotic audiencelavrov has weathered endless waves of speculation that he was on the verge of retirement instead he has become one of the longestlasting members of putins cabinet and a perennial figure among a changing kaleidoscope of foreign counterpartsbefore becoming foreign minister he served as russias 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