Sergei Lavrov Quotes

Our opposition to Communist expansion is not an absolute factor; containment must be taken in relation to American security and American objectives.

The Vietnam War required us to emphasize the national interest rather than abstract principles. What President Nixon and I tried to do was unnatural. And that is why we didn't make it.

For me, my father was, and still is, a symbol of qualified persons in the Ministry of Foreign Trade under Soviet conditions.

… realpolitik

Indeed, in foreign policymaking, inconsistency is often a virtue. I speak not of principles but of policy.

I think an alliance with Stalin's Russia is rotten.

Things change. There has to be flexibility. Let me give you an example. President Xi, we have a, like, a really great relationship. For me to call him a currency manipulator and then say, “By the way, I'd like you to solve the North Korean problem,” doesn't work. So you have to have a certain flexibility, Number One. Number Two, from the time I took office till now, you know, it's a very exact thing. It's not like generalities.

I thought that in general we in the United States were too optimistic in believing that the Soviets might alter what had been for a long time, as a matter of fact for centuries, fundamental Russian policies in respect to the rest of the world.

Bush doesn't present himself as a realpolitik politician.

As far as we were concerned, we were operators, we were administrators. I don't ever recall going to Dean Acheson and asking for any counsel or advice on administration, but I had the greatest respect for him, as I have today.

Foreign policy is an explicitly amoral enterprise.

In 1983, all of us had U.S. passports, but because there was so much tension between America and the U.S.S.R., we were announced as a Canadian group.

I don't believe in ideology in international relations.

The reason for having diplomatic relations [with Communist China] is not to confer a compliment, but to secure a convenience.... British policy has always been that you recognize when ... Government truly has control. It's not a question of whether you like them or not.

I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.

The participation of the Soviet Union in the League of Nations no more transforms the character of the League … than the participation of a Communist in Parliament transforms the character of Parliament.

A policy that can be accurately, though perhaps not prudently, defined as one of “peaceful co-existence.”

[Describing Russia:] ... the most realistic regime in the world—no ideals.

The overall or political objective is to impose upon Russia the will of the United States and British Empire.

The United States now has as its goal much more than simply containing Soviet expansionism. We seek the integration of the Soviet Union into the communlty of nations.... Ultimately, our objective is to welcome the Soviet Union back into the world order.

The Russians are like us, they look and act like us. They are fine people. They got along with our soldiers in Berlin very well. As far as I am concerned, they can have whatever they want just so they don't try to impose their system on others..

That's the problem with Russia: The world has changed. Europe is not at war, and no one wants to negotiate with us. The world has changed, but Russia prefers to pretend it has not.

When it comes to foreign policy, the American people will ultimately reward not the party with the most ambitious vision but the party with the most sober and realistic one.

I was very anti-Soviet and very pro-Russian..

Non-recognition of the Soviet Government indicates no lack of sympathy for Russia, nor of appreciation of the fine qualities of the Russian people …. We earnestly hope for a reborn democratic Russia to which we can lend assistance without stint.