Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (Russian: Серге́й Ви́кторович Лавро́в, pronounced [sʲɪrˈgʲej ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ lɐvˈrof]; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat and currently the Foreign Minister of Russia, incumbent since 2004. His nomination to the Foreign Minister's office was approved by two Russian presidents, in 2008 by Dmitry Medvedev and in 2012 by Vladimir Putin.Prior to that, Lavrov was a Soviet diplomat and Russia's ambassador to the United Nations from 1994 to 2004.