The Kremlin is trying to quell speculation surrounding Sergei Lavrov. Absent from the public scene since the end of October, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs has sparked numerous rumors about a possible disgrace, after his supposed failure to agree with his American counterpart on the Putin-Trump summit in Budapest, ultimately postponed without a date.
Faced with growing questions, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov assured Monday that “all is well” with the head of Russian diplomacy. “Serguei Viktorovich (Lavrov) continues to work, to work actively,” he insisted during his daily briefing, describing the speculation relayed by several foreign media as “absolutely false.” “When there are public events, you will see the minister,” he promised.
Rumors fueled by unusual discretion
For several days, only written or recorded interventions by Sergei Lavrov have been published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while his spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, has remained silent on his public agenda. An unusual discretion which fuels rumors of a cooling within the Russian diplomatic circle.
Our file on Russia
This renewed attention comes in a tense context between Moscow and Washington. At the end of October, Donald Trump canceled his planned meeting in Budapest with Vladimir Putin indefinitely, explaining that he did not want discussions “for nothing”. A few hours earlier, Sergei Lavrov and Marco Rubio, the American Secretary of State, had spoken by telephone to define the modalities. The next day, the United States tightened its sanctions against Russian hydrocarbons, further accentuating diplomatic tension.
