Lavrov out of favour? Kremlin dismisses claims, says veteran diplomat 'remains in his role'

A day after reports suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin had sidelined Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and that Lavrov had vanished from the public eye, a close ally of the president on Friday dismissed the claims, saying they “are completely untrue.”

“Veteran diplomat Lavrov remains in his role,” Politico quoted Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying during a briefing to journalists.

On Thursday, The Moscow Times, an independent outlet based in the Netherlands, reported that Putin has sidelined Lavrov and the minister had disappeared from the public eye after the US abruptly canceled a proposed Budapest summit with Russia.

Rumors swirling on social media were fueled by Lavrov’s absence from the Kremlin on Wednesday, when President Putin discussed the potential resumption of nuclear weapons testing.

Kommersant, a Kremlin-linked Russian business outlet, reported that Lavrov missed the meeting “with prior agreement.”

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry website, Lavrov’s last public appearance was on October 28 at the Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security in Belarus.

The 76-year-old diplomat will also not lead the Russian delegation at this year’s G20 summit, a role he normally fulfills. The Kremlin said Deputy Head of Putin’s Administration Maxim Oreshkin will represent Russia at the Johannesburg summit later this month.

The Financial Times reported late last month that the US cancelled a planned Budapest meeting on the Ukraine war following a call between Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, citing Lavrov’s uncompromising stance.

Lavrov, a longtime ally of Putin, has headed Russia’s diplomatic corps for 21 years.

With inputs from agencies