It happened when Russia’s would-be top diplomat, then a student of Moscow’s prestigious Institute of International Relations, was on a hiking trip with his fellow classmates.
“My most unforgettable New Year celebration was in the forest when my friends and I gathered around a bonfire,” Lavrov said.
The Minister recalled how he and his classmates once celebrated New Year’s inside a tent with a toy stove hanging from a nearby tree.
“We often went out hiking… As a student I spent each summer working at the so-called student constriction teams. In wintertime we went up north rambling in the Arkhangelsk region, on the Kola Peninsula and in Karelia, near the border with Finland. It was during one such trip that we celebrated New Year’s Eve in the forest,” Lavrov recalled.
“It was cold, but it was fun,” he added.