# Sergey Lavrov

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Sergey Lavrov," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sergey-lavrov/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Russian foreign minister, and previously Russian ambassador to the United Nations during John Kiriakou's assignment there, where the two worked the same Security Council. Kiriakou describes him as the most admired diplomat in the building — the most powerful, important and strategic ambassador there despite operating with far smaller resources than his American, British, French and Chinese counterparts, and better than most of the American diplomats Kiriakou worked for. When Lavrov was abruptly sidelined in late 2025, Kiriakou's reading was retirement rather than disgrace.*

- **Role when Kiriakou knew of him:** Russian ambassador to the United Nations
- **Later:** Russian foreign minister
- **Kiriakou's assessment:** One of the most accomplished diplomats on the planet; better than most American diplomats he worked for
- **Contrast:** Worked with far less than his Western counterparts
- **Politics:** No political ambitions in Russia; *"he just likes to be a diplomat"*

**Sergey Lavrov** is the Russian foreign minister, and was Russian ambassador to the United Nations during the period [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) was assigned there. The two worked the same Security Council, and Kiriakou's assessment of him has not moved in twenty years: *"literally everybody respected him. He is one of the most accomplished diplomats anywhere on the planet. I've never met anybody that didn't have respect for Sergey Lavrov."*[1][2]

## The assessment

Kiriakou raised Lavrov in conversation with the Russian ambassador in Washington, and describes the view from inside the American mission at the time: *"All of us admired him because he was such a good diplomat, and he was working with so much less than what the other major Western ambassadors were working with."*[3]

The comparison he draws is resource for resource. The American ambassador then was Negroponte, who Kiriakou says had a billion-dollar budget and the might of the United States behind him; the British, French and Chinese ambassadors all likewise had more to work with than Lavrov. *"Yet he was seen as the most powerful, the most important, the most strategic ambassador at the United Nations."*[4]

Told first-hand, the judgement is comparative in a more pointed way. Having worked with Lavrov at the Security Council, Kiriakou calls him *"a very, very, very impressive diplomat — better than most American diplomats for whom I worked."*[5][6]

## Kiriakou's explanation

He puts the gap down to what the American mission was actually doing. *"Why wasn't it the American ambassador? Because the American ambassador wasn't focused on diplomacy"* — he was focused on America's many wars around the world.[7]

Kiriakou treats this as a pattern rather than a personal failing, and part of a wider argument that other countries overtake the United States economically while it attends to its wars.[7]

## The man rather than the politician

The character sketch Kiriakou gives is of someone with no ambitions beyond the job. Lavrov *"has no political aspirations in Russia at all. He's a diplomat. He just likes to be a diplomat"* — and he is intensely loyal.[6]

That reading governed Kiriakou's response when Lavrov was suddenly sidelined from a Security Council meeting in November 2025 and dropped from the Russian delegation to the G20, a development Kiriakou said surprised him a great deal. If something was going on behind the scenes, his *"educated guess"* was that Lavrov *"will just retire quietly."*[5][8]

Asked the next day whether Lavrov was in a gulag and whether Vladimir Putin had been made nervous by his influence, Kiriakou dismissed both: something had been said or done that seemed to push Lavrov out of the innermost circle, perhaps temporarily, but *"I don't think Lavrov's in any kind of danger. I think the worst thing that could happen to him is that he's told that it's time to retire."* He is old, Kiriakou added, and not wearing his age as well as Putin is.[9][10]

## As a source on Russian policy

Kiriakou also uses Lavrov's public statements as evidence in his own analysis. After the invasion of Ukraine, he notes, Lavrov said the Russians had been surprised by the speed with which the United States imposed sanctions — enough to knock them off kilter for three or four weeks, until they worked out that they did not really need the United States or the American banking system when they could turn to the Indians and others instead.[11][12]

He read the composition of the Russian delegation to the Alaska summit the same way — Putin arriving not merely with Lavrov but with a contingent of his most important diplomats was, to Kiriakou, the signal that this was an actual summit rather than a photo opportunity, with Steve Witkoff and [Marco Rubio](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/marco-rubio) joining Trump on Air Force One at the last second in response. Coming out of the meetings, Lavrov said at least some sanctions would be lifted — not all, and he did not say which.[13][14][15]

## Cooperation despite hostility

In the same conversation with the Russian ambassador, Kiriakou set out a position he says he holds regardless of how bad relations become: *"I don't care how hot the war gets, we can still cooperate on counterterrorism, counter narcotics, and counter proliferation"* — differences that should be set aside on questions important not just to the two countries but to everybody.[16][17]

## See also

- [Vladimir Putin](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/vladimir-putin)
- [Tony Blinken](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/tony-blinken)
- [Russia-Ukraine war origins](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/russia-ukraine-war-origins)
- [China as economic threat](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/china-economic-threat)
- [Afghan heroin policy](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/afghan-heroin-policy)

## Sources

1. Trump's Iran Gamble w/ George Galloway (2026-02-19), at 1:01:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYUmojqVGwI&t=3665s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-19-the-deep-focus-show-trump-s-iran-gamble-w-george-galloway/
2. Trump's Iran Gamble w/ George Galloway (2026-02-19), at 1:01:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYUmojqVGwI&t=3695s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-19-the-deep-focus-show-trump-s-iran-gamble-w-george-galloway/
3. Ο Τ.Κυριακού πρώην πράκτορας της CIA μιλά για όλα στον Αλ.Τσ (2025-08-07), at 27:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYIewDz5Q-c&t=1653s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-07-militaire-news-cia/
4. Ο Τ.Κυριακού πρώην πράκτορας της CIA μιλά για όλα στον Αλ.Τσ (2025-08-07), at 28:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYIewDz5Q-c&t=1686s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-07-militaire-news-cia/
5. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2025-11-10), at 45:11. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJAMwNGkkQ&t=2711s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-10-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/
6. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2025-11-10), at 45:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJAMwNGkkQ&t=2742s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-10-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/
7. Ο Τ.Κυριακού πρώην πράκτορας της CIA μιλά για όλα στον Αλ.Τσ (2025-08-07), at 28:37. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYIewDz5Q-c&t=1717s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-07-militaire-news-cia/
8. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2025-11-10), at 46:15. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJAMwNGkkQ&t=2775s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-10-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/
9. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-11-11), at 04:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE69sAdUisw&t=291s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-11-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
10. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-11-11), at 05:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE69sAdUisw&t=322s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-11-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
11. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-07-28), at 27:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39xICxfs1Xg&t=1637s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-28-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
12. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-07-29), at 37:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsS7xFWrR6o&t=2236s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-29-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
13. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-08-14), at 18:39. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htr-FhIuCKo&t=1119s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-14-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
14. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-08-15), at 06:43. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiPnxJE7vtk&t=403s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-15-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
15. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-08-15), at 07:45. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiPnxJE7vtk&t=465s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-15-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
16. Ο Τ.Κυριακού πρώην πράκτορας της CIA μιλά για όλα στον Αλ.Τσ (2025-08-07), at 30:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYIewDz5Q-c&t=1809s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-07-militaire-news-cia/
17. Ο Τ.Κυριακού πρώην πράκτορας της CIA μιλά για όλα στον Αλ.Τσ (2025-08-07), at 30:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYIewDz5Q-c&t=1840s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-07-militaire-news-cia/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sergey-lavrov/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt