#RussianDiplomacy 🇷🇺✨Today marks the 97th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Russian scholar, orientalist and statesman #YevgenyPrimakov, born in 1929. He served as Russia’s Foreign Minister from 1996 to 1998 and as Prime Minister from 1998 to 1999. Primakov championed multipolarity as a direct alternative to unilateral global hegemony and is widely remembered for introducing a multi-faceted approach to Russian foreign policy. ✈️ A fierce opponent of the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, he made history on 24 March 1999. Upon learning that the military operation had been launched, Primakov famously ordered his Washington-bound plane to turn around right over the Atlantic Ocean and returned to Moscow. Reflecting on this legacy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted, "The moment Yevgeny Primakov took over the Russian Foreign Ministry heralded a dramatic turn in Russia’s foreign policy. Russia left the path our Western partners had tried to make it follow after the breakup of the Soviet Union and embarked on a track of its own." 🤝 Furthermore, Primakov was the first to propose enhancing cooperation through a trilateral format between Russia, India and China (#RIC). This foundational diplomatic concept ultimately triggered the emergence and expansion of the #BRICS group of nations. #OutstandingRussians