Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov said the transfer of power from Boris Yeltsin to Vladimir Putin in
2000 was “evidence of extraordinary divine intervention,” calling it a historic
turning point for Russia.
Lavrov made the remark in an interview with state propaganda agency TASS on July 29, saying that in the 1990s “everything was on the brink” because of “separatist sentiment.” He said Yeltsin “found the courage” to hand power over early and that he gave it to “the one person who at that moment alone could preserve Russia.”
“That is a historic turn; it means that Russia is, after
all, marked by God. When it gets really difficult, we get help from above,” the
minister stated.