Vladimir Putin’s best man in Russia

Berlin Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov possesses a skill not typically learned in diplomatic training. He seems to enjoy publicly humiliating his negotiators.

A year ago, Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, felt the effects. After the joint discussion on the open stage, Lavrov dismissed the chief European diplomats as saying that the EU was unreliable and that its heads of government were driven by “cultural arrogance”.

Before his trip, Borrell had promised to find harsh words about the arbitrary verdict against Putin critic Alexej Navalny. He wanted to urge respect for human rights. Instead, he accepted unchallenged that Lavrov questioned the results of the EU investigation into Navalny’s poisoning.

Russia saved Europe from Europe more than once. Sergey Lavrov in a 2014 interview for Russian TV